Substituting eggs or white bread with oatmeal in breakfast lowers stroke risk

Denmark: Eating oatmeal in breakfast instead of eggs or white bread for a single breakfast each week significantly lowers the risk of stroke, according to a recent study published in the AHA journal Stroke.

Previous studies have shown that eating breakfast every day, particularly oatmeal lowers the risk of stroke. However, few studies have considered replacing foods consumed at breakfast. Christina C. Dahm, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark, and colleagues, therefore, aimed to model substitutions between the breakfast food products oatmeal, eggs, yogurt, or white bread and subsequent risk of stroke.

The study included participants from the Danish cohort study (Diet, Cancer, and Health; n=55 095) were followed for 13.4 years during which 2260 participants experienced a first-ever stroke. Using a validated 192-item food-frequency questionnaire at baseline, breakfast foods were assessed. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% CIs for associations between hypothetical substitutions of standard portion sizes of breakfast foods and stroke.

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Key findings of the study include:

• Modeling replacement of white bread or eggs with oatmeal was associated with a lower rate of total stroke (hazard ratio [HR]=0.96; HR=0.96 respectively), total ischemic stroke (HR=0.96; HR=0.96 respectively), and ischemic stroke due to small-artery occlusion (HR=0.95; HR=0.95 respectively).


• Modeling replacement of eggs with oatmeal was associated with a lower rate of total hemorrhagic stroke (HR=0.94).


• Modeling replacement of yogurt with oatmeal was not associated with stroke.

"Our findings suggest that a diet containing oatmeal instead of white bread or eggs may be associated with a lower rate of stroke," concluded the authors.

The study, "Substitutions of Oatmeal and Breakfast Food Alternatives and the Rate of Stroke," is published in the AHA journal Stroke.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.024977