Abstract
Introduction: In order to reduce coronary artery disease (CAD) risk, moderate physical activity should be combined with other lifestyle modifications, such as proper nutrition, to have a dramatic impact. This necessitates educational and preventative measures, which should begin in childhood and continue throughout life.Aim: The aim of this study was to measure the change in nutrition knowledge of coronary artery bypass graft patients by implementation of a lifestyle intervention programme.Methods: The Hawkes andNowak Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (1998) was administered to 18 coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients to assess the change in nutrition knowledge.Results: Significant improvements were noted in the nutrition knowledge score (18.9 ± 3.4–23.2 ± 4.5; p = 0.000). Although all components measured exhibited improvements in knowledge, cholesterol reduction knowledge (5.3 ± 1.8–7.2 ± 1.8; p = 0.0066), low fat food knowledge (3.8 ± 2.3–5.1 ± 2.7; p = 0.011) and high fibre food knowledge (4.1 ± 1.4–4.7 ± 1.1;p = 0.022) exhibited the highest and most significant improvements.Conclusion: Notably, these significant improvements in nutrition knowledge points toward effective education being delivered during the intervention. Cardiac rehabilitation has proved to be effective in changing lifestyle habits in a holistic way and this study further shows an improvement in nutritional knowledge based on sound educational principles.
Highlights
In order to reduce coronary artery disease (CAD) risk, moderate physical activity should be combined with other lifestyle modifications, such as proper nutrition, to have a dramatic impact
Despite substantial evidence and health knowledge pointing toward the protective nature that an adequate intake of fruit, vegetables and high fibre foods has against obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes South Africa still displays the classic signs of a population that is well established in nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCD's) (Abdulrahman & Hazzaa, 2012; Buist, 1995; Shisana et al, 2013)
With malnutrition being strongly associated with overweight and obesity, one factor in South Africa which has contributed to this pandemic is the frequency of meals being consumed outside of the home i.e. street foods, restaurant and fast food and take-away outlets (Ma et al, 2003; Shisana et al, 2013).The South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES-1) reported that 29% of their sample ate outside the home on a monthly basis, and 28% on a weekly basis (Shisana et al, 2013)
Summary
In order to reduce coronary artery disease (CAD) risk, moderate physical activity should be combined with other lifestyle modifications, such as proper nutrition, to have a dramatic impact. Cardiac rehabilitation can be defined as a comprehensive programme based on physical activity that represents multifaceted interventions aimed at improving prognosis by means of healthy lifestyle modifications Programmes such as this, combined with nutrition, appropriate lifestyle modification and risk reduction play a major role in the management of cardiac conditions and have been shown to be highly beneficial in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients as fundamental knowledge about lifestyle habits, such as nutrition, can contribute tremendously to an individual's level of wellness, including the enhancement of health and vitality (Durstine, Moore, Lamonte, & Franklin, 2008; Jay, 2010; Lavie, Arena, & Franklin, 2016; Robbins, Powers, & Burgess, 2005). These statistics further have a negative impact on cardiac risk, as well as morbidity and mortality, as it remains evident that many South Africans are consuming more foods which are rich in total fat and saturated fat, energy-dense, micronutrient-poor snacks and sweetened carbonated beverages, which are all insufficient to meet micronutrient needs (Vorster, Badham, & Venter, 2013)
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