Feasibility of, and success in adopting a low-fat diet in coronary patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of dietary counsellin g 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 card iac rehabilitation course with the main emphasis on individual dietary coun selling by a nutritionist. Patients were followed up at 3 and 6 months. The dietary data mere collected by means of 3-7 days food diaries. Mean fat in take decreased from 33.6 +/- 6.2% to 24.7 +/- 5.5% of total energy intake a t 3 months and to 27.0 +/- 6.9% (p < 0.001) at 6 months. Only 13% of the pa tients were able to reduce their dietary fat intake as recommended. Thus, r eduction of <greater than or equal to>20% was considered a good response, w hile reduction of <20% was classified as poor. Forty-seven percent (rt = 22 ) of the patients were good and 53% (n = 25) poor responders. It was not po ssible to predict the success rate from the baseline data. After a 2-week i ntensive counselling period at the rehabilitation centre, half of the coron ary patients were able to comply with a low-fat diet at home for 6 months. Long-term compliance requires further investigation.