Effects of a healthy diet enriched or not with pecan nuts or extra-virgin olive oil on the lipid profile of patients with stable coronary artery disease: a randomised clinical trial.

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the effect of a healthy diet, enriched or not with pecan nuts or extra-virgin olive oil, on the lipid profile of patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). This was a randomised clinical trial conducted for 12weeks with patients aged between 40 and 80years with stable CAD for more than 60days. Individuals were randomised into groups [control group (CG) with 67 patients, pecan nut group (PNG) with 68 patients and olive oil group (OOG) with 69 patients]. The CG was prescribed a healthy diet according to the nutritional guidelines; the PNG was prescribed the same healthy diet plus 30g day-1 of pecan nuts; and the OOG was prescribed a healthy diet plus 30mL day-1 of extra-virgin olive oil. In total, 204 subjects were submitted to an intention-to-treat analysis. After adjustment for baseline values and type of statin used, there was no difference regarding low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (primary outcome), high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio and HDL-cholesterol/triglycerides ratio according to groups. However, the PNG exhibited a significant reduction in non-HDL-cholesterol levels [PNG: 114.9(31)mg dL-1 ; CG: 127(33.6)mg dL-1 ; OOG: 126.6(37.4)mg dL-1 ; P=0.033] and in the total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio [PNG: 3.7(0.7); CG: 4.0(0.8); OOG: 4.0(0.8); P=0.044] compared to the CG and OOG. Supplementing a healthy diet with 30g day-1 of pecan nuts for 12weeks did not improve LDL-cholesterol levels but may improve other lipid profile markers in patients with stable CAD.