Nearly one half of Americans die of cardiovascular disease. The morbidity and mortality associated with coronary artery disease is strongly related to abnormal lipid levels, oxidation of lipids and intra-arterial clot formation. Nutrition powerfully influences each of these factors. There is growing evidence that patients can improve lipid levels and ...

BACKGROUND: There has been much controversy in the medical literature regarding the benefit of treating elevated cholesterol levels in asymptomatic elderly people (65 years of age and older) to prevent coronary heart disease (CHD). Little has been published about the attitudes and beliefs of elderly patients regarding the importance of ...

Recommendations to Americans concerning dietary fat and heart disease began to appear in the late 1950s. This followed the publications of Gofman et al. (1950) and Keys (1953) relating to techniques for separating plasma lipoprotein fractions and the epidemiologic correlations between dietary fat, serum cholesterol and heart disease, respectively. Advice ...

This study explored general practitioner (GP) perceptions of use of treatments to manage hyperlipidaemia and their cost implications. GPs recognized different levels of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, but were not always aware of which were major factors. Most were unfamiliar with published guidelines on managing hyperlipidaemia, and were likely ...

A model of the association between hostility and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is proposed based upon anger inhibition, slow cardiovascular recovery, and low parasympathetic activity (vagal tone). This model is opposed to the more conventional model that emphasizes anger expression, cardiovascular reactivity, and high sympathetic tone. We argue that in social ...

Nutritional status of men, aged 50, which is considered as a high risk group for noncommunicable heart diseases was investigated. The study showed that the chemical composition of diet could be considered as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. This diet is too rich in simple sugars and fats, especially ...

We examined whether the inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis by NG-nitro-L-arginine (lNNA) abolished pacing-induced preconditioning, and if prolonged exposure to cholesterol-enriched diet led to the loss of preconditioning due to decreased cardiac NO formation. Therefore, Wistar rats fed 2% cholesterol-enriched diet or standard diet for 24 weeks were treated ...

Encouraging intervention trials drive our expectations toward more aggressive cholesterol-lowering therapies, lower target levels, and less severe hypercholesterolemia. Available studies may predict which patients, degrees of total cholesterol (TC) reduction, and baseline and target levels of TC provide the most clinical benefit. Data were pooled from seven primary and nine ...

BACKGROUND: The relation between dietary intake of specific types of fat, particularly trans unsaturated fat and the risk of coronary disease remains unclear. We therefore studied this relation in women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study. METHODS: We prospectively studied 80,082 women who were 34 to 59 years of age ...

The term Mediterranean diet refers to dietary patterns found in olive-growing areas of the Mediterranean region and described in the 1960s and beyond. There are several variants of the Mediterranean diet, but some common components can be identified: high monounsaturated/saturated fat ratio; ethanol consumption at moderate levels and mainly in ...

Knowledge which links dietary fat and cholesterol to coronary heart disease (CHD) has been controversial for more than forty years. While policies advocating fat and cholesterol restriction are now deeply ingrained in affluent western societies, the scientific 'facts' on which they are supposedly based are highly contested. Applying concepts from ...

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is common in India and, recently, an increase in the incidence of CHD was reported from the South Indian state of Kerala. The traditional Indian diet is low in fat content. The high incidence of CHD in Indians is, therefore, in contrast to western studies that ...

The evidence from formal, controlled, long-term clinical trials that changes in dietary fats reduce the incidence of ischemic (coronary) heart disease (IHD) is unimpressive. Mostly these trials were underpowered and in several the rigor of dietary control in the intervention and control groups was inadequate. Six controlled clinical trials in ...

BACKGROUND: Low serum cholesterol concentrations are associated with high death rates from cancer, trauma, and infectious diseases, but the meaning of these associations remains controversial. The present report evaluates whether low cholesterol is likely to be a causal factor for mortality from all causes or from specific causes. METHODS AND ...

Cardiovascular disease related to hyperlipidemia is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. The benefit of lowering lipid levels in patients with and without cardiovascular disease has been demonstrated in numerous clinical trials. The results of these trials prompted the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute ...

Coronary heart disease remains the major cause of death and morbidity in developed countries. As a consequence, its prevention constitutes a significant public health challenge. In recent times, our understanding of this disease process has expanded and many of the factors that influence its expression have been elucidated. In addition, ...

Medical nutrition therapy, consisting of a diet low in saturated fat, has an important role in reducing risks for cardiovascular disease and hyperlipidemia. Dietary factors that have a negative effect on blood lipid levels include dietary cholesterol, saturated fat, and trans fatty acids, whereas unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, and ...

The association between nutrition and coronary heart disease is mainly due to the effect of nutrients on serum lipids and lipoproteins. Cholesterol intake does not play a very important role for plasma cholesterol although there is a strong interindividual difference in response. The intake of saturated fatty acids strongly negatively ...

The scope for dietary intervention in general practice is substantial. The three most prevalent conditions for which general practitioners are likely to give dietary advice are hypertension, functional digestive disorders, and ischemic heart disease. As well as clinical diseases, risk factors such as raised plasma cholesterol concentrations also provide opportunities ...

Analysis of trials which have investigated the effects of lowering low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels on coronary heart disease (CHD), as determined by changes on quantitative coronary angiography and in the incidence of cardiovascular events, suggests that the percentage decrease in LDL cholesterol provides a better index of outcome than ...

Because of their large sample sizes, epidemiologic studies can provide important data on the relation between diet, specifically dietary fat and fatty acids, and lipid and lipoprotein concentrations as well as the incidence of coronary artery disease. Although correlation coefficients vary widely (from 0.84 to 0.01) and are frequently low ...

Patients who develop thrombotic vascular occlusions usually have underlying vascular disease. However, the interplay among lipids, atherogenesis, and thrombosis has proven difficult to define in humans. The evidence for a contribution from individual dietary lipids to thrombogenesis was reviewed in the preceding section of this supplement. Although feeding long-chain fatty ...

A high intake of saturated fats and cholesterol is associated with an increased risk of developing and dying from coronary artery disease (CHD), particularly if other risk factors are present. However, although a reduction in the consumption of the amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the incidence of ...

Cholesterol lowering has been shown to be of benefit in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in both patients with established CHD (secondary prevention) and those without (primary prevention). In secondary prevention trials, moderate cholesterol lowering reduced the rate of new events and decreased both morbidity and mortality ...

In a series of clinical trials and epidemiologic studies over the past 30 years, clear associations have been established between saturated fat in the diet, elevated serum cholesterol levels, and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). This understanding has been applied in intervention trials using diet, exercise, and drugs ...

A multicenter clinical trial was performed in 560 patients to assess the effectiveness of a prepackaged diet plan compared with self-selected American Heart Association Step 1 and Step 2 diets in lowering risk factors for cardiovascular disease in patients with mild to moderate disease. The results of the 10-week intervention ...

From this detailed analysis of the main dietary trials conducted over the last 30 years in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, it can be said that the older trials were conducted on low risk patients and used high fat diets (about 40% of energy as lipids), comprising low ...

Diet plays an important role in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The growing perception that abnormal haemostatic processes of coagulation, platelet aggregation and fibrinolysis contribute to cardiovascular disease aetiology motivated this review on the relationships of diet, specific foods and nutrients with haemostatic function. Functional endpoints that ...

Diet is routinely recommended as the primary strategy for the prevention and treatment of high blood cholesterol. The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), the American Heart Association (AHA), and a host of other health and medical organizations have advocated a diet low in total and saturated fat and cholesterol for ...

The population morbidity assessed according to ICD-9 was studied in the village of Karadzhalovo, the district of Plovdiv, where concentration of nitrates in drinking water was constantly above the tolerable level. The observation was carried out within a 5-year period (1990-94). The data were compared with those from a control ...

We report results of a longitudinal study of shifting patterns of food consumption in a rural Hausa-Fulani village in northern Nigeria. While the broad outlines of diet did not change over the 12 years between two dietary surveys, important shifts occurred: a decline in the consumption of local cultigens, with ...

OBJECTIVES: We sought to describe the various cardiovascular complications that occurred in the Lyon Diet Heart Study (a secondary prevention trial testing the protective effects of a Mediterranean type of diet), to analyze their relations with the associated drug treatments and to gain insights into the possible mechanisms underlying the ...

For epidemiologic studies of spondyloarthropathy in circumpolar peoples of Chukotka, Russia and Alaska, we gathered demographic, physical and laboratory data to provide a background for evaluating and comparing factors that may influence susceptibility and clinical expression of disease. The study groups included the Chukchi and Siberian Eskimo of Russia and ...

Improved cardiovascular morbidity and mortality have been observed in several clinical studies of dietary supplementation with coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). We elucidated the effect of CoQ10 on certain hemostatic parameters that may influence the progression of heart disease. Twelve Yorkshire swine were randomized to receive diet supplementation with either CoQ10 or ...

In summary then we can say that diet in Ireland is changing continuously, that the patterns as documented in diet are consistent with the epidemiological patterns of the major chronic diseases, although predictions for the future will be complex because of both positive and negative changes in diet behaviours. The ...

The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends reducing total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels to decrease the risk for coronary heart disease. The available evidence clearly indicates that higher cholesterol levels increase the risk for coronary heart disease and that cholesterol reduction results in corresponding decreases in risk. In contrast, existing ...

OBJECTIVES: To review some aspects in the recent literature related to the effects of postmenopausal estrogen and progestin use on major plasma lipoprotein risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: Collection of relevant information from medical journals, and by the use of Medline and Current Contents. RESULTS: The beneficial ...

Community-based studies have suggested that the dietary intake of total fat influences factor VII coagulant activity (FVIIc), a predictor of fatal events from coronary heart disease (CHD). Nevertheless, the question whether the quality of dietary fats, with special reference to fatty acids (FAs), influences FVIIc is unsolved. The authors investigated ...

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease are the principle causes of death in people with non-insulin dependent diabetes. This is thought to be due to insulin resistance, which is particularly associated with obesity where the fat is deposited in the abdomen, commonly in men and post-menopausal women. High fat diets, usually also ...

The diet-heart hypothesis proposes that elevated intakes of total fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol raise serum cholesterol, which in turn increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD). To examine the relationship between dietary intake and 12-year CHD mortality we used data from the Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence ...

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effects of reducing dietary saturated fat intake on the incidence and economic costs of coronary heart disease (CHD) in the United States. DESIGN: Modeling techniques and data from secondary sources, including the Framingham Heart Study and the second and third National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, ...

Overwhelming evidence indicates that the Western diet plays a major role in atherogenesis. Clinicians are only now beginning to tease out the precise components of the diet that are harmful or beneficial. With respect to fat intake, it remains unclear whether it is the amount or type of fat that ...

In addressing the potential for any hazards associated with lowering serum cholesterol, a recent meta-analysis by Law and colleagues (Br Med J 1994;308:373) concluded that that there was no evidence that a low or reduced serum cholesterol concentration increases mortality from any cause other than haemorrhagic stroke. In this review, ...

Despite billions of dollars spent on targeted and population-wide strategies aimed at reducing human consumption of saturated fat and cholesterol, aspects of the diet-heart connection remain a source of debate. At least part of the uncertainty arises from a growing appreciation that the relationship between dietary habits, serum lipids, and ...

Traditional food is culturally, economically and nutritionally important for the Greenlandic Inuit people. In the 1970s the preventive effect of marine fat on cardiovascular disease, thrombosis and atherosclerosis was described. The low incidence of ischemic heart disease among Greenlanders has been related to the high intake of marine food. Since ...

The prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) necessitates vigorous dietary intervention so as to lower the serum cholesterol level by at least 6%. Greater decreases in serum cholesterol can bring about reversal of atherosclerosis. The critical dietary change is the reduction in intake of saturated fat and cholesterol. ...

A systematic examination of the evidence on the relationship between serum cholesterol and ischaemic heart disease shows conclusively that serum cholesterol reduction in populations with high rates of heart disease is an effective and safe method of reducing ischaemic heart disease rates. The relative protective effect is greater at younger ...

BACKGROUND: Animal experiments and epidemiological studies have suggested that coronary disease could be prevented, arrested, or even reversed by maintaining total serum cholesterol levels below 150 mg/dL (3.88 mmol/L). In 1985, we began to study how effective one physician could be in helping patients achieve this cholesterol level and what ...

Rapid economic growth in Taiwan is accompanied by changing lifestyles, and the mortality pattern has switched from predominantly infectious diseases to chronic diseases. Age-adjusted mortality from heart disease has increased slowly but steadily. However, mortality from heart disease in Taiwan remains low compared with many other countries. Mortality from the ...

The link between diet, the maintenance of health, and the development of chronic disease has become increasingly evident in recent years. The advice from national health organizations has become more focused, identifying dietary excesses of energy, total fat, saturated fatty acids, and dietary cholesterol as adversely affecting the health of ...