This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Dear colleagues, I am Christoph Diener, a neurologist from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Today I would like to discuss six noteworthy publications that came out in September of this year.
Meat, Fish, Vegetables: Impact on Ischemic Heart Disease and Stroke Risk
The EPIC-Oxford study recruited 48,000 people without stroke or ischemic heart disease and followed them for 20 years. Participants were divided into three groups: meat eaters, fish- but not meat eaters, and vegetarians.
Researchers published the results of 18 years of follow-up of these participants in the BMJ,[1] reporting 2820 cases of ischemic heart disease and 1072 cases of stroke during that time. Compared with meat eaters, fish eaters and vegetarians had a 13% and 22% relative risk reduction of developing ischemic heart disease, respectively. In absolute numbers, this accounts for 10 fewer cases of heart disease per 1000 for vegetarians compared with meat eaters over 10 years. Interestingly, and surprisingly, vegetarians had a 20% higher risk for stroke than meat eaters, mostly due to cerebral hemorrhage. In absolute numbers, this accounts for three more cases out of 1000 over 10 years.
I think the most likely explanation for why meat eaters have a higher risk for ischemic heart disease is
COMMENTARY
Meat, Fish, and Vegetables: New Data on Heart Disease and Stroke
Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD
DisclosuresNovember 01, 2019
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Dear colleagues, I am Christoph Diener, a neurologist from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Today I would like to discuss six noteworthy publications that came out in September of this year.
Meat, Fish, Vegetables: Impact on Ischemic Heart Disease and Stroke Risk
The EPIC-Oxford study recruited 48,000 people without stroke or ischemic heart disease and followed them for 20 years. Participants were divided into three groups: meat eaters, fish- but not meat eaters, and vegetarians.
Researchers published the results of 18 years of follow-up of these participants in the BMJ,[1] reporting 2820 cases of ischemic heart disease and 1072 cases of stroke during that time. Compared with meat eaters, fish eaters and vegetarians had a 13% and 22% relative risk reduction of developing ischemic heart disease, respectively. In absolute numbers, this accounts for 10 fewer cases of heart disease per 1000 for vegetarians compared with meat eaters over 10 years. Interestingly, and surprisingly, vegetarians had a 20% higher risk for stroke than meat eaters, mostly due to cerebral hemorrhage. In absolute numbers, this accounts for three more cases out of 1000 over 10 years.
I think the most likely explanation for why meat eaters have a higher risk for ischemic heart disease is
Medscape Neurology © 2019 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Hans-Christoph Diener. Meat, Fish, and Vegetables: New Data on Heart Disease and Stroke - Medscape - Nov 01, 2019.
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Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Neurology, Stroke Center-Headache Center, University Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstrasse, Essen, Germany
Disclosure: Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Received honoraria for participation in clinical trials, contribution to advisory boards or oral presentations from: Abbott; Addex Pharma; Alder; Allergan; Almirall; Amgen; Autonomic Technology; AstraZeneca; Bayer Vital; Berlin Chemie; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Boehringer Ingelheim; Chordate; CoAxia; Corimmun; Covidien; Coherex; CoLucid; Daiichi-Sankyo; D-Pharml Electrocore; Fresenius; GlaxoSmithKline; Grunenthal; Janssen Cilag; Labrys Biologics Lilly; La Roche; 3M Medica; MSD; Medtronic; Menarini; MindFrame; Minster; Neuroscore; Neurobiological Technologies; Novartis; Novo-Nordisk; Johnson & Johnson; Knoll; Paion; Parke-Davis; Pierre Fabre; Pfizer Inc; Schaper and Brummer; sanofi-aventis; Schering-Plough; Servier; Solvay; Syngis; St. Jude; Talecris; Thrombogenics; WebMD Global; Weber and Weber; Wyeth and Yamanouchi
Received financial support for research projects from: Allergan; Almirall; Astra/Zeneca; Bayer; Boehringer Ingelheim; Electrocore; GlaxoSmithKline; Janssen-Cilag; Lundbeck; MSD; Novartis; Pfizer; Janssen-Cilag; sanofi-aventis; Syngis; Talecris.
The Department of Neurology in Essen is supported by the German Research Council (DFG), the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), European Union, National Institutes of Health, Bertelsmann Foundation, and Heinz-Nixdorf Foundation.
Dr Diener has no ownership interest and does not own stocks of any pharmaceutical company.
Within the past year Dr Diener served as editor of Aktuelle Neurologie, Arzneimitteltherapie, Kopfschmerznews, Stroke News, and the Treatment Guidelines of the German Neurological Society; as co-editor of Cephalalgia, and on the editorial board of Lancet Neurology, Stroke, European Neurology, and Cerebrovascular Disorders.
Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD, has no ownership interest in and does not own stocks of any pharmaceutical company.