Tracking of Dietary Patterns in the Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease after a Nutritional Intervention Program—A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Individuals with a history of previous cardiovascular events have an increased risk of mortality and morbidity, so adherence to a healthy dietary pattern is essential. We aimed to evaluate and compare dietary patterns between the control and the experimental group from the BALANCE Program. A total of 2360 individuals aged 45 years or older with previous cardiovascular disease were included. The individuals were randomized into two groups: intervention (dietary prescription with nutritional recommendations, nutritional education program based on playful strategies, suggestions of typical and accessible Brazilian foods and intensive monitoring) and control (conventional nutritional counseling). The dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis with the principal component extraction method, and the t-Student tests and ANOVA test were performed to evaluate the associated factors. Four dietary patterns were identified for both groups: “Traditional”, “Snack”, “Western”, “Cardioprotective”. There was an increase in the variances of the “Cardioprotective” pattern in both groups. Regarding the “Western” pattern, there was a significant reduction in the variances of the experimental group (10.63% vs. 8.14%). Both groups had improvements in eating habits, especially in the first year of follow-up. The greater increase in adherence to the traditional and cardioprotective pattern in the experimental group justifies the initiative of the BALANCE program.

Effects of Diet—Exercise Interaction on Human Health across a Lifespan

“…This relationship increases the risk of developing obesity and other cardiovascular diseases, which may decrease the quality of life in this younger population. In this Special Issue, in the PASOS study, it is shown that a Mediterranean diet with higher fitness status can be related to higher levels of health-related quality of life, independent of the body mass index [11]. Therefore, these results highlight the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles to ensure the subject's wellbeing, including an individual's social, mental, and physical dimensions [12].…”

“…Maintaining caloric restriction could be difficult over time and in some specific cases. In this sense, the article in the framework of the BALANCE program focuses on the whole diet, recommending healthier dietary patterns to prevent the development of new cardiovascular events [11]. They observed an improvement in the dietary patterns with higher intakes of fruits and vegetables and a decrease in salted and sugared ultra-processed foods after an intervention.…”