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.

Background: 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).

Methods: This was a randomised clinical trial conducted for 12 weeks with patients aged between 40 and 80 years with stable CAD for more than 60 days. 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 30 g day of pecan nuts; and the OOG was prescribed a healthy diet plus 30 mL day of extra-virgin olive oil.

Results: 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 ; CG: 127 (33.6) mg dL ; OOG: 126.6 (37.4) mg dL ; 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.

Conclusions: Supplementing a healthy diet with 30 g day of pecan nuts for 12 weeks did not improve LDL-cholesterol levels but may improve other lipid profile markers in patients with stable CAD.