title: Feasibility of, and success in adopting a low-fat diet in coronary patients.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of dietary counselling and the predictability of success in reducing fat intake to less than 20% of total energy in patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease. Forty-seven patients with coronary heart disease attended a 2-week in-house cardiac rehabilitation course with the main emphasis on individual dietary counselling by a nutritionist. Patients were followed up at 3 and 6 months. The dietary data were collected by means of 3-7 days food diaries. Mean fat intake decreased from 33.6 +/- 6.2% to 24.7 +/- 5.5% of total energy intake at 3 months and to 27.0 +/- 6.9% (p < 0.001) at 6 months. Only 13% of the patients were able to reduce their dietary fat intake as recommended. Thus, reduction of > or = 20% was considered a good response, while reduction of < 20% was classified as poor. Forty-seven percent (n = 22) of the patients were good and 53% (n = 25) poor responders. It was not possible to predict the success rate from the baseline data. After a 2-week intensive counselling period at the rehabilitation centre, half of the coronary patients were able to comply with a low-fat diet at home for 6 months. Long-term compliance requires further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Centre, Social Insurance Institution, Turku, Finland. Helena.Hamalainen@kela.memonet.fi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hämäläinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paalosmaa-Puusa
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seppänen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rastas
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Knuts
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Voipio-Pulkki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000178:diet therapy*; D003376:Counseling; D018752:Diet, Fat-Restricted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance