Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between meat consumption and the prevalence of a first, non-fatal event of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS), in a Greek sample.
Design: Randomized, case-control study.
Setting: Tertiary care.
Subjects: A total of 848 out of 956 patients who had been randomly selected from hospitals with first event of an ACS and 1078 population-based controls, age and sex matched.
Interventions: Detailed information regarding their medical records, alcohol intake, physical activity and smoking habits was recorded. Nutritional habits were evaluated with a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analysis estimated the odds ratio of having ACS by level of meat intake, after taking into account several confounders.
Results: Patients consumed higher quantities of meat compared with controls (6.5+/-2.9 vs 4.9+/-2.1 portions per month, P<0.001). Food-specific analysis showed that red meat consumption was strongly associated with 52% increased odds of ACS (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.47-1.58). On the contrary, white meat consumption seems to be associated with only 18% likelihood of having cardiac events (95% CI 1.11-1.26). Participants who consumed >8 portions red meat and >12 portions white meat per month had 4.9 times and 3.7 higher odds of having ACS, respectively (P<0.001), compared with low meat intake (<4 portions and <8 portions per month, respectively).
Conclusions: Increased red meat consumption showed a strong positive association with cardiac disease risk, whereas white meat consumption showed less prominent results, after controlling for several potential confounding factors.