Brazilian Cardioprotective Nutritional Program Trial

There are no studies exploring the benefits of a diet composed of typical Brazilian food in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Randomized studies show that the Mediterranean diet is beneficial for patients with established cardiovascular disease or in risk for CVD development. Indeed, nutritional composition of the Mediterranean Diet is one of main references for dietary guidelines for treatment and prevention of CVD in Brazil and the world. However, in many countries, such as Brazil, most foods of the Mediterranean diet are not widely available, may be expensive or are not part of population eating habits. So, the prescription of the Mediterranean diet intervention for cardiovascular disease to the Brazilian population may not be feasible, leading to a low adherence. In this context, patients with established CVD have a low compliance to nutritional prescription. The BALANCE Program, considers 3 concepts: a) A dietary prescription guided by nutritional content recommendations from the Brazilian national guidelines; b) A nutritional education program based on fun, playful strategies and suggestions of affordable foods; and c) Intensive follow-up through one-on-one visits, group sessions, and phone calls. This is the first proposal to use these concepts concurrently with the objective to increase adherence of secondary prevention patients to the diet proposed by the guidelines. Therefore, The primary outcome is a composite of death (any cause), cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, myocardial revascularization, amputation for peripheral arterial disease, or hospitalization for unstable angina.