Diet exerts null effect on coronary artery calcification incidence, progression

Dietary patterns at baseline appear to influence neither the incidence nor the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis incidence, according to a study.

The study used data from the longitudinal, prospective ELSA-Brasil cohort and included 2,824 participants who underwent a coronary artery calcification exam at baseline and follow-up.

Researchers defined the incidence of subclinical atherosclerosis as a baseline coronary artery calcification (CAC) score of zero and subsequent follow up CAC score >0. They also evaluated progression according to the Honkanson method for the participants who presented a CAC score >0 at baseline.

All participants completed a food frequency questionnaire to provide information regarding their diet, with factor analysis applied to identify patterns. The researchers then estimated the association between baseline dietary pattern and subclinical atherosclerosis incidence and progression using Poisson regression models with robust variance and linear regression models, respectively.

At baseline, CAC scores were 0 for 2,131 participants and >0 for 639 participants. The incidence rate of subclinical atherosclerosis was 14.6 percent while that of progression was 60.3 percent.

Three dietary patterns emerged, namely convenience, Brazilian traditional, and prudent. All three dietary patterns showed no significant effect on the incidence and progression of subclinical atherosclerosis.

The findings suggest that baseline dietary pattern is not a risk factor for the incidence and progression of subclinical atherosclerosis.