title: The Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) and reduction of chronic disease risk factors in Canada.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The short-term effectiveness of the nutrition-centred Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) lifestyle intervention for improving selected chronic disease risk factors was examined in the Canadian setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1003 people (aged 56.3 ± 12.1 years, 68% female) were self-selected to participate in one of 27 CHIP interventions hosted in community settings by Seventh-day Adventist churches throughout Canada, between 2005 and 2011. The program centred on the promotion of a whole-food, plant-based eating pattern, and daily physical activity was also encouraged. Biometric measures, including body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), blood lipid profile, and fasting blood sugar (FBS), were determined at program entry and 30 days into the intervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 30 days, significant overall reductions (P<0.001) were recorded in the participants' BMI (-3.1%), systolic BP (-7.3%), diastolic BP (-4.3%), total cholesterol ([TC] -11.3%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ([LDL-C] -12.9%), triglycerides ([TG] -8.2%), and FBS (-7.0%). Participants with the highest classifications of TC, LDL-C, TG, and FBS at program entry experienced approximately 20% reductions in these measures in 30 days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CHIP intervention, which centres on a whole-food, plant-based eating pattern, can lead to rapid and meaningful reductions in chronic disease risk factors in the Canadian context.
authors.affiliation: Avondale College of Higher Education.
authors.forename: Darren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.affiliation: Avondale College of Higher Education.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rankin
authors.affiliation: Avondale College of Higher Education.
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.affiliation: University of Manitoba.
authors.forename: Rex
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sokolies
authors.affiliation: Loma Linda University.
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dysinger
authors.affiliation: Medical Nutrition Therapy Northwest.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gobble
authors.affiliation: Lifestyle Medicine Institute.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Diehl
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D010349:Patient Compliance; D033303:Protestantism; D012307:Risk Factors