Usual dietary intake of choline and betaine: descriptive epidemiology, repeatability and association with incident coronary events: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study

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  • March 21, 2019
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  • Bidulescu, Aurelian
    • Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
Abstract
  • A relative deficiency of choline and betaine has been studied for its potential atherogenic properties, which appears to be secondary to the aberrant methylation process that it induces. It is now possible to conduct studies of choline and betaine because the concentrations of choline in common foods have been relatively well characterized. The relative risk of a low dietary intake of choline and betaine in relation with incident coronary heart disease (CHD) was investigated by gender, race and menopausal status in a middle-aged biracial cohort of 14,430 men and women sampled from four U.S. locales by the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. During the 14 years of follow-up of this large prospective cohort, there was not a significant association between dietary intake of choline (or choline plus betaine) and the risk of incident CHD. Compared with the lowest quartile of intake, incident CHD risk was 22% higher [HR = 1.22 (0.91, 1.64)] and 14% higher [HR = 1.14 (0.85, 1.53)] in the highest quartile of choline and choline plus betaine, respectively, controlling for age, gender, education, total energy intake, and dietary intakes of folate, methionine and vitamin B6. Correction for measurement error in the dietary intake of choline and related nutrients provided similar results. The hazard ratio for an interquartile difference of choline and betaine intake was 1.24 (0.92, 1.66), when the covariates considered to be measured without error were age and gender. The reliability of the dietary assessment for choline and betaine as assessed with a brief semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was ascertained and the ARIC population intakes of dietary choline and betaine were estimated. The reliability coefficients were in the same range as those reported for other micronutrients (0.50 for choline). The median and the 25th percentile of dietary choline intake in the ARIC population were 284 mg/day and 215 mg/day, respectively. The intake of choline was below that proposed as the Adequate Intake for 94% of men and 89% of women.
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  • In Copyright
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  • Heiss, Gerardo
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  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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  • Open access
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  • October 19, 2010

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