Abstract 9343: Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Stroke: Results from Two Prospective Cohort Studies

Background: The association between specific types of fat intake and the risk of stroke remains inconclusive. Prospective data examining the relation of fat from different food sources to stroke risk are sparse. We aimed to investigate the association between total fat, various types of fat, and fat from different sources and the risk of stroke. Methods: We followed 73,867 women (Nurses’ Health Study, 1984-2016) and 43,269 men (Health Professionals Follow-up Study, 1986-2016) free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Dietary fat intake was collected by food-frequency questionnaires and categorized by sources and types. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between fat intake and stroke risk. Results: During 3,168,151 person-years of follow-up, we documented 6,189 incident stroke events (including 2,967 ischemic and 814 hemorrhagic). A high intake of vegetable fat (HR comparing extreme quintiles=0.88; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.96; P-trend<0.001) or polyunsaturated fat (HR=0.88; 95% CI: 0.80, 0.96; P-trend=0.002) was associated with lower total stroke risk, whereas high non-dairy animal fat was associated with an increased risk (HR=1.16; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.29; P-trend<0.001). We observed similar associations for the ischemic stroke, but only the positive association of non-dairy animal fat was observed for the hemorrhagic stroke. For food groups contributing to fat intake, vegetable oil (HR per 1 serving/day=0.91; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.98) was associated with lower total stroke risk, while total red meat (HR=1.08; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.13) and processed red meat (HR=1.12; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.23) were associated with a higher risk. The association for vegetable oil was attenuated after adjusting for vegetable fat or polyunsaturated fat, while adjusting for non-dairy animal fat rendered total red meat and processed red meat nonsignificant. Conclusions: A higher intake of vegetable fat, polyunsaturated fat, and vegetable oil was associated with a reduced risk of stroke, but a high intake of non-dairy animal fat, total red meat, and processed red meat was associated with increased stroke risk. These findings indicate the importance of considering the fat sources when examining the association between fat and stroke.