Alternatives for macronutrient intake and chronic disease: a comparison of the OmniHeart diets with popular diets and with dietary recommendations.
BACKGROUND
Enhancements to current dietary advice to prevent chronic disease are of great clinical and public health importance. The OmniHeart Trial compared 3 diets designed to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk-one high in carbohydrate and 2 that replaced carbohydrate with either unsaturated fat or protein. The lower carbohydrate diets improved the CVD risk factors. Several popular diets claiming health benefits emphasize carbohydrate, fat, or protein or various combined approaches.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to compare the macronutrient contents of the OmniHeart trial diets to those of several popular diets and to evaluate each diet for consistency with national health guidelines.


METHODS
The macronutrient contents of 7-d menu plans from the OmniHeart Study, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Zone, Atkins, Mediterranean, South Beach, and Ornish diets were evaluated for consistency with the US Food and Nutrition Board's Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs) and with the dietary recommendations of several health organizations.


RESULTS
The OmniHeart diets fulfilled the major AMDRs, but, of the popular diets, only the Zone diet did. The OmniHeart diets were generally consistent with national guidelines to prevent cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, whereas most popular diets had limitations for fulfilling one or more guidelines.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the OmniHeart protein and unsaturated fat diets were superior to the carbohydrate diet in improving CVD risk, all 3 study diets were consistent with national guidelines to reduce chronic disease risk, which suggests that the guidelines might now be fine-tuned to optimize disease prevention. Popular diets vary in their nutritional adequacy and consistency with guidelines for risk reduction.
de Souza
Russell J
RJ
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Swain
Janis F
JF
Appel
Lawrence J
LJ
Sacks
Frank M
FM
D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000517:prevention & control; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards*; D004033:Diet Fads; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005504:Food Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008612:Menu Planning; D018673:Nutrition Policy
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D004043:Dietary Fiber; D004044:Dietary Proteins