Adherence to 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is associated with a reduced progression of coronary artery atherosclerosis in women with established coronary artery disease.

Description

This study examined whether a diet meeting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) was associated with less atherosclerotic lesion progression in postmenopausal women (n=224) with established coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis progression was defined by repeated measures of quantitative angiography over a 3-year period. Adherence to the DGA recommendations was measured with the use of the DGA Adherence Index (DGAI). There was no association between the DGAI and atherosclerotic progression. However, using a weighted DGAI (wDGAI) instead of a DGAI with each component equally weighted, there was a significant relationship between wDGAI and atherosclerotic progression. These results suggest that the assumption that all components of dietary data have an equal weight in describing the diet-disease relationship is not correct. In light of already available data, Kris-Etherton emphasized in her editorial that there is evidence to demonstrate the extent to which healthy diet and lifestyle habits can lower events and risk of major chronic diseases. She also raised two points emerging from the study of Imamura: 1- the study supports current dietary recommendations and; 2- the differential weighting of dietary indexes offers a new tool in the evaluation of associations between dietary practices and health or disease outcomes.