Empirically-derived food patterns and the risk of total mortality and cardiovascular events in the PREDIMED study

Abstract

1Background and aims: There is little evidence on post hoc-derived dietary patterns (DP) 2

Saturated Fats Versus Polyunsaturated Fats Versus Carbohydrates for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Treatment

“…Notably, whereas a higher GL was strongly associated with CVD in this cohort, consumption of protein and fat from animal sources in the context of lower-carbohydrate diets was not associated with a worsening of CVD risk (66). Neutral associations with CVD risk of more Westernized diets rich in red and processed meat, refined grains, alcohol, and whole-dairy products were also recently observed in an a posteriori analysis of the PREDIMED study (108). …”

Mortality outcomes associated with intake of fast-food items and sugar-sweetened drinks among older adults in the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) study

“…The Western dietary pattern has been characterized by higher intakes of red or processed meats, butter, high-fat dairy products, eggs, refined grains and sugars, fried potatoes, fast-food items (FFI) and desserts, as well as sugar-sweetened drinks (SSD) (2) . While associations between the Western dietary pattern and increased risk of cardiovascular and total mortality are mostly consistent across multiple populations (5)(6)(7)(8)(9) , associations with cancer mortality are less clear (3,8,10) . However, the inclusion of food items which comprise this dietary pattern as well as definitions for FFI and SSD often vary across studies, which limits the interpretability of findings.…”

“…Yet, studies which actually link the intake of FFI (24) or SSD (10,25,26) to total or disease-specific mortality outcomes are relatively few (9) . Recent guidelines to reduce fast food and sugared drink consumption as a cancer preventive strategy have been issued (27) , despite limited information as to whether this action may impact disease burden.…”

PREDIMED trial of Mediterranean diet: retracted, republished, still trusted?

“…The original publication1 reported 87 cardiovascular deaths for the full trial population and follow-up, while Henríquez-Sánchez and colleagues’ secondary analysis of dietary antioxidants and mortality24 reports 102 such deaths despite a more limited sample and follow-up. Two publications2324 have identical follow-up, but one23 has a larger number of total deaths, while the other24 has a higher number of cardiovascular deaths. Two other publications2526 have identical total number of deaths, but one has five more cardiovascular deaths (a component of the primary endpoint)26 while the other has five more deaths from other causes (not a component of the primary endpoint) 25.…”

“…However, even then inconsistencies are noted. For example, the first three publications in the table232425 all report that they exclude 231 participants but Martinez-Gonzalez 201523 states that they all had extreme values of total energy intake, whereas the other two state that some had extreme values of total energy intake (n=15325, n=15224) and other had incomplete dietary data at baseline (n=7825, n=7924). Also these papers give different median follow-up despite the similar exclusions.…”