Dietary total antioxidant capacity is inversely associated with cardiovascular events and cardiometabolic risk factors: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: Dietary total antioxidant capacity (dTAC) has been introduced as a useful tool to quantify the antioxidant content of a diet. However, few studies have evaluated the association of dTAC with cardiovascular disease (CVD) occurrence and cardiometabolic risk factors in people with established CVD events. Thus, we aimed to investigate the presence of an association between dTAC values, cardiovascular events, and cardiometabolic risk factors in individuals with previous CVD in a Brazilian multicenter study. Methods: This study has a cross-sectional design. We evaluated baseline data from the Brazilian Cardioprotective Nutritional Program Trial. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, clinical, and food-consumption data were collected in face-to-face interviews. We estimated dTAC from the mean of two 24-h dietary recalls by values of ferric-reducing antioxidant power. Results: We evaluated 2346 participants, most of whom were men (58.4%), older adults (64.2%), and overweight (68.6%), and had coronary artery disease (92.4%). The mean dTAC was equal to 5.6 (interquartile range, 3.9-7.8) mmol/1000 kcal. Participants in the third dTAC tertile (9.2 mmol/1000 kcal) had a 22%, 59%, and 69% lower chance, respectively, of having hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and amputation due to arterial disease in comparison to the first tertile (3.4 mmol/1000 kcal). Conclusions: The dTAC was inversely associated with hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and amputation due to arterial disease in individuals undergoing secondary care for CVD. Our results can guide strategies for the prevention of new CVD and its consequences. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.