Relationship between meat intake and the development of acute coronary syndromes: the CARDIO2000 case–control study

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 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