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Topical Area: Nutritional Epidemiology

Nutritional Epidemiology (I) (Poster Session)

(P19-021-23) Dietary Intake of Vitamin B6 Is Associated With Lower Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in African American Adults: The Jackson Heart Study

Sunday, July 23, 2023
11:45 AM – 12:45 PM ET
Location: Poster Board 118

    Presenting Author(s)

  • KT

    Krisha Thiagarajah, PhD, RDN

    Senior Lecturer
    Indiana University Bloomington
    Bloomington, Indiana, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • CH

    Cuiqiong Huo, MPH

    Graduate student
    Indiana University Bloomington
    Bloomington, Indiana, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • CT

    Carmen Tekwe, Ph.D.

    Associate Professor
    Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington
    Bloomington, Indiana, United States

  • Katherine L. Tucker, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Professor, Director of the Center for Population Health
    University of Massachusetts Lowell
    Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences
    Lowell, Massachusetts, United States

  • AB

    Aurelian Bidulescu

    Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington

Disclosure(s):
Krisha Thiagarajah, PhD, RDN: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: Vitamin B deficiency (notably B6) is common in the US population, with higher rates in African Americans. We investigated the association between dietary intake of B vitamins (vitamin B6, B12, and folate) and incident coronary heart disease (CHD) among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), an NIH-funded ongoing cohort of cardiovascular disease. We also assessed the contribution of plasma homocysteine as a mediator of this relationship.

Methods: JHS provided validated dietary intake for 2174 JHS participants without CHD history at baseline. Dietary intake of B vitamins was obtained from a food-frequency questionnaire. Plasma homocysteine was concomitantly assessed by a fluorescence polarization immunoassay method. All 141 adjudicated CHD events were used. Intakes of B vitamins were adjusted for total energy intake using the residual method and divided into tertiles. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to ascertain associations between B vitamins and CHD risk. Mediation analyses using VanderWeele’s product method were conducted to assess homocysteine as a mediator.

Results: JHS participants with CHD (vitamin B6: 1.58 ± 0.73 mg/d; vitamin B12: 5.49 ± 4.12 mcg/d; folate: 316 ± 162 mcg/d) had lower vitamin B6 intake but similar vitamin B12 and folate intake, compared to those without CHD (vitamin B6: 1.65 ± 0.74 mg/d; vitamin B12: 5.24 ± 3.75 mcg/d; folate: 312 ± 146 mcg/d). In fully adjusted models, a higher intake of vitamin B6 was associated with a lower risk of CHD (T3 vs T1: HR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.28, 0.79; P-trend = 0.004). No signification associations were found between vitamin B12 or folate and CHD risk. Homocysteine was a significant mediator of the vitamin B6 - CHD relationship (T3 vs T1: Relative Indirect HR = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.928, 0.999. Relative Direct HR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.267, 0.808. Relative total HR = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.258, 0.786).

Conclusions: An inverse association between dietary intake of vitamin B6 and coronary heart disease was present among our African American participants, with homocysteine as a mediator of this relationship. No significant associations were found for vitamin B12 or folate. Subclinical deficiency of vitamin B6 in populations might have cardiovascular consequences. Further studies are needed to elucidate the possible mechanisms.

Funding Sources: None