Dietary Non Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity and the Risk of Stroke - The Swedish Women's Lifestyle and Health Cohort

Abstract Objective Consumption of antioxidant rich foods has been associated with a reduced risk of stroke. However, antioxidant supplementation is not recommended due to controversial findings reported in clinical trials. To better understand the effect of dietary antioxidants we investigated the effect of dietary Non Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity (NEAC), reflecting the antioxidant potential of the whole diet, on the risk of stroke. Methods In the Women's Lifestyle and Health Cohort 45,882 women aged 30-49 years and free from cardiovascular diseases were followed through record linkages from 1991 until 2012. Dietary NEAC was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire collected at baseline and categorized into quintiles. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models were fitted to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overall stroke as well as ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke separately. Results During a mean follow-up time of 20.2 years we detected 871 incidence cases of stroke (516 ischemic, 296 hemorrhagic and 59 unspecified strokes). After adjusting for potential confounders, we did not find any association between dietary NEAC and stroke, neither overall, nor ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke (p values for trend >0.05). Conclusion Higher dietary NEAC was not associated with any type of stroke in young and middle-aged Swedish women.