Antioxidants and cardiovascular diseases in the Czech population

The authors studied the possible association between plasma antioxidants and the high rates of cardiovascular diseases in the Czech Republic. The report has three parts. First, plasma antioxidants levels were compared in a random sample of population of two Czech districts (70 men and 66 women) and in British civil servants (246 men and I 12 women). Second, plasma antioxidants were compared in random samples of men aged 45-64 in Pardubice (Czech Republic, n = 185) and Augsburg (Bavaria, n = 142). Both Breat Britain and Bavaria have substantially lower mortality from cardiovascular disease than the Czech Republic. Third, a case control study examined the relation between low levels of plasma antioxidants and the risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction (52 cases and 144 controls, all males). Blood samples were taken, stored and analysed under strictly standardised conditions. Geometric means of beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol and the alpha-tocopherol/total cholesterol ratio were substantially lower in Czechs than in Brits (all p-values less than 0.001). For example, the mean concentration of beta carotene in plasma of Czech men was only a half of that in British men (0.39 vs. 0.77 mumol/l). Similarly, mean alpha- and beta-carotene and lycopene among Czech men were substantially lower than in Bavarian men. Mean homocysteine was higher in Czechs (10.5 mumol/l) and in Bavarians (8.9 mumol/l, p < 0.001). Means of vitamin E were similar. In the case-control study, the risk of myocardial infarction was elevated among men with below median plasma levels of beta carotene (age adjusted odds ratio 3.33, 95% confidence interval 1.43-8.33) and alfa-tocopherol (odds ratio 1.89, 95% confidence interval 0.94-3.85). The low levels of carotenoids and high levels of homocysteine in plasma of Czechs may reflect low dietary intakes of fresh fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants or factors related to their dietary intakes may be one of the causes of the high cardiovascular mortality in the Czech Republic.