ABSTRACT
Abstract Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) accounted for 27% of deaths in Brazil in 2017. Most of the recorded deaths caused by CVD would be preventable if patients controlled risk factors including inadequate diet. The Brazilian Cardioprotective Nutritional Program (Dica Br) adapted the Mediterranean diet pattern to Brazilian typical foods and evaluated the effectiveness of a nutritional program based on cardioprotective foods on cardiovascular events and death of patients with cardiovascular diseases. Objectives To evaluate the effect of Dica Br on the QoL of patients with atherosclerotic disease from two health centers in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Method Randomized clinical trial with 273 participants of both sexes, over 45 years old, followed for four years. The intervention group (IG) received individualized dietary prescription, educational program, individual and group consultations, and phone calls. The control group (CG) received general dietary guidance. The SF-36 was used to assess QoL. The Student's t-test and the Mann-Whitney test was used to compare means between the groups. The mixed model test was used to compare the course of variables over time between the groups. Statistical significance was set at 5%. Result Most patients were male, with an average age of 64.2 ± 8.2 years in the IG and 65±9.5 years in the CG. Most were physically inactive, overweight, and had incomplete elementary school. The most prevalent comorbidity was systemic arterial hypertension, followed by dyslipidemia. QoL improved in both groups at four years. Waist circumference decreased in both groups over time, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels decreased in the IG but not in the CG after four years of follow-up. Conclusion The cardioprotective diet was effective in reducing LDL-C in the IG, and an improvement in QoL was observed in both intervention and control groups.