High dietary methionine increases risk of acute coronary events

February 26, 2007

Adding to the methionine discussion/debate is this recent study:

Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2006 Mar;16(2):113-20. Epub 2005 Nov 2.

High dietary methionine intake increases the risk of acute coronary

events in middle-aged men.

Virtanen JK, Voutilainen S, Rissanen TH, Happonen P, Mursu J,

Laukkanen JA, Poulsen H, Lakka TA, Salonen JT.

Research Institute of Public Health, University of Kuopio, PO Box

1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Homocysteine, a methionine metabolite, is

suggested to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). To

date, the effects of dietary intake of methionine, the key amino acid

in homocysteine metabolism, on CVD have not been studied. Our aim was

to examine the effects of dietary methionine intake on the risk of

acute coronary events.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined the effects of dietary methionine

intake, assessed with 4-d food record, on acute coronary events in a

prospective cohort study consisting of 1981 coronary disease free men

from eastern Finland, aged 42-60 years at baseline in 1984-89, in the

Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) Study. During an

average follow-up time of 14.0 years, 292 subjects experienced an

acute coronary event. In a proportional hazards model adjusting

for age, examination years, BMI, urinary nicotine metabolites and

protein intake (excluding methionine) the relative risks of acute

coronary event in the three highest quarters of dietary methionine

intake were 1.31 (95% CI: 0.92, 1.86), 1.31 (95% CI: 0.88, 1.96) and

2.08 (95% CI: 1.31, 3.29) as compared with the lowest quarter. Further

adjustments did not change the results. However, opposite association

was observed with total protein intake, which tended to decrease the risk.

CONCLUSIONS: The main finding of this study is that long-term,

moderately high dietary methionine intake may increase the risk of

acute coronary events in middle-aged Finnish men free of prior CHD.

More prospective research is needed to confirm the role of dietary

methionine in the development of CVD, and whether its effects are

independent of homocysteine. PMID: 16487911

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