Fat and protein intakes and risk of intraparenchymal hemorrhage among middle-aged Japanese

The authors examined the relation between low intakes of saturated fat and animal protein and risk of intraparenchymal hemorrhage in a 14-year prospective study (ending in 1997) of 4,775 Japanese aged 40-69 years who undertook a single 24-hour dietary recall. Compared with the highest quartile of energy-adjusted saturated fat intake (median, 17 g/day), multivariate relative risks, after adjustment for age, sex, community, total energy intake, and known cardiovascular risk factors, were 0.77 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42, 1.42) for the second quartile (12 g/day), 0.66 (95% CI: 0.34, 1.25) for the third quartile (8 g/day), and 0.30 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.71) for the lowest quartile (5 g/day); p for trend=0.005. An inverse relation was observed among both hypertensives and non hypertensives; the respective relative risks with a one standard deviation increase in saturated fat intake (15.4 g/day) were 0.72 (95% CI: 0.52, 1.00) and 0.36 (95% CI: 0.14, 0.95). Intake of animal protein tended to correlate inversely with risk; the relative risk with a one standard deviation increase in animal protein intake (17.6 g/day) was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.61, 1.02); p=0.07. Results are similar to those recently reported for US women and together help to explain the high rate of this stroke subtype in Asian countries, where intakes of these nutrients are low.