Dietary Total Antioxidant Capacity, a Diet Quality Index Predicting Mortality Risk in US Adults: Evidence from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study

Abstract

Dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) is an index representing the total antioxidant power of antioxidants consumed via the diet. This study aimed to investigate the association between dietary TAC and mortality risk in the US adults using data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. A total of 468,733 adults aged 50–71 years were included. Dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. Dietary TAC from diet was calculated from antioxidants including vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, and flavonoids, and TAC from dietary supplements was calculated from supplemental vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene. During a median follow-up of 23.1 years, 241,472 deaths were recorded. Dietary TAC was inversely associated with all-cause (hazard ratio (HR) for quintile 5 vs. quintile 1: 0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.96–0.99, p for trend < 0.0001) and cancer mortality (HR for quintile 5 vs. quintile 1: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.90–0.95, p for trend < 0.0001). However, dietary supplement TAC was inversely associated with cancer mortality risk only. These findings indicate that consuming a habitual diet high in antioxidants may reduce the risk of all-cause and cancer mortality and TAC from foods might confer greater health benefits than TAC from dietary supplements.

Physical activity modifies the association of the composite dietary antioxidant index with all-cause mortality in the US osteoarthritis population

“…The association between CDAI and mortality has been studied in several populations. According to Wang et al in the general population, the CDAI was inversely correlated with all-cause and CVD mortality (21), which was supported by previous reports that dietary antioxidant index was associated with lower all-cause mortality in the US (22,23), Japan (24), and Chinese populations (23). Among diabetes patients in NHANES (2003-2014), CDAI was linked to a decreased all-cause and CVD mortality (25).…”