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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #219148
Title: Dietary carbohydrates and cardiovascular disease risk factors in the Framingham Offspring Cohort

Author
item MCKEOWN, NICOLA - JM USDA HNRCA @ TUFTS
item MEGIS, JAMES - MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL
item SIMIN, LIU - UCLA
item ROGERS, GAIL - JM USDA HNRCA @ TUFTS
item Saltzman, Edward
item Jacques, Paul
item MAKIKO, YOSHIDA - JM USDA HNRCA @ TUFTS

Submitted to: Journal of the American College of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2007
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The quality of carbohydrate in the diet can be measured using the dietary glycemic index. Blood glucose levels increase after consuming carbohydrate foods and the higher the glycemic index of a food, the poorer the quality of the carbohydrate. In a healthy group of men and women, we divided people into 5 groups based on their reported dietary glycemic index. The lowest group had the lowest dietary glycemic index per day, while the highest group had the highest dietary glycemic index. A fasting blood sample was taken for each person and we found that people with the highest dietary glycemic index had higher triglcyerides and lower HDL-cholesterol. Also, people who had higher glycemic index diets had a higher degree of insulin resistance compared to those with lower glycemic index diets. Low levels of HDL cholesterol and high triglyceride blood levels increase a persons risk of developing heart disease. Also, the more insulin resistant a person is the more likely they will develop heart disease and diabetes. Dietary recommendations encourage people to eat a diet rich in vegetables, legumes, and fruits and these foods generally have a low glycemic index. Incorporating these foods into the diet may improve cardiovascular disease risk factors and reduce an individuals risk of developing heart disease.

Technical Abstract: Evidence from observational studies has suggested that carbohydrate quality rather than absolute intake is associated with greater risk of chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between carbohydrate intake and glycemic index and several cardiovascular disease risk factors. We examined cross-sectional associations between total carbohydrate and dietary glycemic index (GI) intakes and several cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVD) in a sample of 2,941 Framingham Offspring Participants. CVD risk factors included waist, blood pressure, lipids, fasting insulin, fasting glucose, and the insulin sensitivity index (ISI 0,120). Dietary intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and categorized by quintiles of dietary intake. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, dietary GI was positively associated with fasting triglycerides (mean: 125 ug/dL in the lowest and 137 ug/dL in the highest quintile of intake; P for trend <0.001), SBP (121 and 124 mmHG, respectively, P for trend <0.0001), fasting insulin (27.2 and 29.3 u/mL, respectively, P for trend <0.0001), and inversely associated with HDL cholesterol (46 and 44 mg/dL, respectively, P for trend 0.003) and ISI 0,120 (27.1 and 25.5, P for trend <0.001). There was no significant relationship between dietary GI and waist circumference, fasting glucose and DBP. Intakes of total carbohydrate were inversely associated with waist circumference and HDL cholesterol, and positively associated with fasting triglycerides. These cross-sectional findings support the hypothesis that a high glycemic index diet unfavorably affects CVD risk factors and therefore, substitution of high with low glycemic index dietary carbohydrates may have reduce the risk of CVD.