Dietary Acid Load and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Prospective Population-based Study

Background: Considering the established association between the dietary acid load and cardiovascular outcomes, as well as the existing inconstancies in the previous studies, we aimed to assess the association between the dietary acid load and the risk of cardiovascular diseases in the framework of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Methods: Eligible participants (n= 2369, 19- 70 years old, 43.5% men) with no cardiovascular diseases at baseline (2006-2008) were recruited and followed up for a mean period of 6.7 ± 1.4 years. Potential Renal Acid Load and Net Endogenous Acid Production, as the two indexes of dietary acid load, were calculated based on the macronutrient and micronutrient constitutions. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to report the association between tertiles of Potential Renal Acid Load and Net Endogenous Acid Production, and 6-years incident risk of cardiovascular diseases.Results: The mean age and body mass index of the participants were 38.5 ± 13.3 years and 26.6 ± 4.8 kg/m2 at baseline, respectively. The incident rate of cardiovascular diseases was reported as 3.3% (79 cases). No significant associations were detected between the Potential Renal Acid Load and the cardiovascular diseases incidence in the crude or the adjusted models (HRs= 0.63; CI: 0.36-1.17; P trend= 0.10). Meanwhile, the Net Endogenous Acid Production index was marginally significantly associated with the crude model (HR= 0.57; CI: 0.33-0.99, P trend= 0.048). Conclusions: Data from the current study were not in favor of an independent association between the dietary acid load and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases within the Iranian population.