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

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.

Automated summary

Individuals with a history of previous cardiovascular events need to adhere to a healthy dietary pattern to reduce risks. This study compared the dietary patterns between the control and experimental groups in the BALANCE Program and found that the experimental group had a higher adherence to the cardioprotective dietary pattern. Both groups showed improvements in eating habits, especially in the first year of follow-up.