Background dietary habits are strongly associated with the development of myocardial infarction at young ages: A case–control study

SummaryBackgroundWe investigated whether dietary habits can discriminate young individuals with myocardial infarction (MI) from age–sex-matched controls.MethodsWe enrolled 100 consecutive patients who had survived their first MI before the age of 36 years and 100 age- and sex-matched controls without a history of cardiovascular disease. Dietary habits were assessed through a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, and a diet score that evaluates quality of diet was developed (ranging 14–60). Smoking habits, physical activity status, body mass index, clinical history and blood lipid levels were also measured.ResultsData analysis revealed that MI patients had less healthy dietary as compared to their matched controls (23 ± 4 vs. 31 ± 4; p < 0.001). Multi-adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that 1-unit increase in the diet score (i.e., better dietary habits) decreased by 40% (95% CI 15%–57%) the odds of having a MI, after controlling for smoking habits, body mass index, cholesterol levels, presence and management of hypertension and diabetes, physical activity status, and family history of coronary heart disease (CHD). Discriminant analysis showed that diet score was the strongest discriminator for MI, followed by cholesterol levels and pack-years of smoking.ConclusionsThe present work provides scientific evidences that promotion of healthy eating from the youth may prevent the development of CHD.