The Effects of Nutrition Counseling on Food Intakes and Bloodlipids in Cardiac Patients

Wang, Soo Gyoung; Park, Seon Mi

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether nutrition counseling and exercise could be beneficial to patients with acquired cardiac disease (ACD). Twenty-five ACD patients participated in this program, which was based on guidelines for serum lipid management. To measure the effects of the nutrition counseling and exercise education, outpatients with ACD were selected and randomly assigned to three groups which were a control group, a diet only group and a diet and exercise group. Nine diet only group patients and nine diet and exercise group patients received nutrition counseling or nutrition counseling and exercise education every other week. Patients who served as a non counseled control group did not receive any counseling during the same study period. Various markers of disease risk, including lifestyle, anthropometric indices, eating behaviors, and serum lipid levels were measured before and after the program. The program lasted up to 12 weeks, depending on the individuals involved. Database management and statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 7.5 software. As a result, BMI and %IBW showed decreased trends in the diet only and the diet and exercise group. Food habit scores were significantly increased in the diet only group and the frequency of saturated fatty acid, dietary cholesterol, salty food and instant food intake were decreased in the diet only group. Comparisons of the daily nutrient intakes of the groups showed their total calorie, carbohydrate and protein intake had decreased significantly, and also the total fat and dietary cholesterol intake had decreased in the nutrition counseling group. The serum total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol decreased after 12 weeks in the nutrition counseling group. The diet and exercise group showed less interest in diet control than the diet only group. These results show that a well-planned nutrition counseling program would reduce the risks of ACD and cardiovascular disease and help to care such diseases.