Possible Dietary Causes of Central and Eastern European "Coronary Disease Epidemic"

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 01 Dec 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Diets low in foods containing folate and carotenoids may be "a major contributing factor" to the high rate of heart disease among both men and women in Central and Eastern Europe, especially compared with people in Western Europe, the United States, Mediterranean nations and Asian countries, according to researchers at Oregon Health and Science University.

Folate is found in foods such as orange juice, avocados, spinach and fortified grain products, while apricots, broccoli, carrots, spinach and sweet potatoes are among the sources of carotenoids.

The researchers studied "coronary mortality" and diets of people in nearly 20 countries. Among other findings, they discovered substantially higher death rates from cardiac disease among both men and women - especially compared with their folate intakes - in Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania and the Russian Federation than in Greece, Japan, France and Spain.

The researchers note that "the terrible toll from sudden death that is particularly striking in men aged 30 to 50 years [in Central and Eastern Europe] is likely the result of a combination of factors.

Still, the diets in these countries that are high in pathogenic dietary factors and low in protective dietary factors, especially folate and carotenoids, may help explain the very high death rate from coronary disease in both men and women in Central and Eastern Europe." Contact: Kelly Liebbe
media@eatright.org
312-899-4769
American Dietetic Association

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