Vegetarian diet and incidence of total, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in two cohorts in Taiwan

Objectives – To determine how a vegetarian diet affects stroke incidence in two prospective cohorts, and to explore whether the association is modified by dietary vitamin B12 intakes.

Methods –Participants without stroke in the Tzu Chi Health study (Cohort1, n=5,050, recruited in 2007-2009) and the Tzu Chi Vegetarian Study (Cohort2, n=8,302, recruited in 2005) were followed until end of 2014. Diet was assessed through food frequency questionnaires in both cohorts at baseline. Stroke events and baseline comorbidities were identified through the National Health Insurance Database. A subgroup of 1528 participants in Cohort1 were assessed for serum homocysteine, vitamin B12, and folate. Associations between vegetarian diet and stroke incidences were estimated by Cox regression with age as time scale, adjusted for sex, education, smoking, alcohol, physical activities, BMI (only in Cohort1), hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and ischemic heart diseases.

Results – Vegetarians had lo...