Mediterranean diet for heart disease.

MEDITERRANEAN cooking; MYOCARDIAL infarction; CORONARY disease; CANOLA oil; MARGARINE; VEGETABLES; CORONARY heart disease prevention; CLINICAL trials; COMPARATIVE studies; FOOD habits; RESEARCH methodology; MEDICAL cooperation; RESEARCH; UNSATURATED fatty acids; EVALUATION research; RANDOMIZED controlled trials; BLIND experiment

The article presents information on a study that examined the role of Mediterranean diet in preventing recurrent myocardial infarction. The diet used in the study consisted of more bread, vegetables and fish, daily fruit, less meat, with red meat replaced by poultry and butter and cream replaced by a canola oil-based margarine. The study enrolled 605 patients younger than 70 years who had suffered a first heart attack within six months of enrollment. The 303 subjects in the control group were prescribed a prudent Western diet by their attending physicians. Subjects in the treatment group attended a one-hour class during which a dietitian and a cardiologist explained the Mediterranean diet. Both groups returned at eight weeks and annually for follow-up, but only the treatment group received dietary advice from investigators. There were significantly fewer deaths and nonfatal heart attacks in the treatment group, 1.24 per 100 patients per year of follow-up compared with 4.07 in the control group.