Abstract MP55: Red And Processed Meat And Alternative Protein Sources In Relation To Risk Of Fatal Coronary Heart Disease: A Pooled Analysis Of 16 Prospective Cohort Studies

Background: Red and processed meat intake have been associated with higher risk of fatal coronary heart disease (CHD). However, very few studies have evaluated substitution of alternative protein sources for red and processed meat in relation to fatal CHD risk. Objective: We estimated the associations of substituting other animal and plant protein sources for total red meat, unprocessed red meat, and processed meat in relation to risk of fatal CHD. Methods: This pooled analysis was conducted within the Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer and included participants with no prior self-reported history of cardiovascular diseases or cancer. Diet was assessed by cohort-specific food frequency questionnaires collected at baseline. Total red meat included processed meat and unprocessed red meat. Animal protein sources included seafood, poultry, eggs, and low- and high-fat dairy products; plant protein sources included nuts and beans. After adjusting for dietary and non-dietary factors, study-specific relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models and then pooled using a random effects model. Isocaloric dietary substitution was evaluated by differences in coefficients in models including red meat and all alternative protein sources described above as continuous variables. Results: In preliminary analyses of 16 prospective cohorts including 1,364,211 participants (40% men and mean age of 57 ± 10 years) followed for a maximum of 32 years across studies, we identified 51,176 fatal CHD cases. A 100g/day increment in total red meat intake was associated with a 7% higher risk of fatal CHD, RR=1.07 (95% CI 1.04, 1.10). Substitutions of 200 kcal/day from nuts, low- and high-fat dairy products, and poultry for 200 kcal/d from total red meat were associated with 6-14% lower risks of fatal CHD. These associations were stronger when substituting the alternative protein sources for processed meat, especially among women (n=14,888 cases, 17-24% lower risk). Substituting 200 kcal/day from eggs for 200 kcal/day from total red meat and unprocessed red meat was associated with 8 and 14% higher risk of fatal CHD, respectively; this substitution for processed meat was weaker and not significant (4%). Results were similar after excluding the first 4 years of follow-up. Conclusions: Preliminary results from this international pooled analysis of 16 cohort studies provide more evidence about the risks of red and processed meat consumption. Replacement of red and processed meat with nuts, dairy products, or poultry may reduce the risk of fatal CHD.

A systematic comprehensive longitudinal evaluation of dietary factors associated with acute myocardial infarction and fatal coronary heart disease

Environmental factors, and in particular diet, are known to play a key role in the development of Coronary Heart Disease. Many of these factors were unveiled by detailed nutritional epidemiology studies, focusing on the role of a single nutrient or food at a time. Here, we apply an Environment-Wide Association Study approach to Nurses’ Health Study data to explore comprehensively and agnostically the association of 257 nutrients and 117 foods with coronary heart disease risk (acute myocardial infarction and fatal coronary heart disease). After accounting for multiple testing, we identify 16 food items and 37 nutrients that show statistically significant association – while adjusting for potential confounding and control variables such as physical activity, smoking, calorie intake, and medication use – among which 38 associations were validated in Nurses’ Health Study II. Our implementation of Environment-Wide Association Study successfully reproduces prior knowledge of diet-coronary heart disease associations in the epidemiological literature, and helps us detect new associations that were only marginally studied, opening potential avenues for further extensive experimental validation. We also show that Environment-Wide Association Study allows us to identify a bipartite food-nutrient network, highlighting which foods drive the associations of specific nutrients with coronary heart disease risk.