What is the Lyon Diet Heart Study?
This was a randomized, controlled trial with free-living subjects. Its goal was to test the effectiveness of a Mediterranean-type diet on the rate of coronary events in people who’ve had a first heart attack. The results suggest that a Mediterranean-style Step I diet may help reduce recurrent events in patients with heart disease. What were the methods used? A total of 302 experimental- and 303 control-group subjects were randomized into the study. All were patients who had survived a first heart attack. The two groups had a similar coronary risk factor profile (blood lipids and lipoproteins, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index and smoking status). Patients in the experimental group were asked to comply with a specific Mediterranean-type diet. Patients in the control group received no dietary advice from the researchers but were asked by their physicians to follow a prudent diet. An intermediate analysis was performed after a minimum follow-up of one year for each pa
