statin or diet

MN: And people who have had a heart attack?

JA: Statins are definitely helpful for people who have already had a heart attack. Still, the Lyon Diet Heart Study shows how much more effective a healthy diet is in reducing the risk of heart attack for these folks. The participants were randomly assigned to receive counseling about a Mediterranean-style diet (see end of article) or a standard post-heart attack diet. Those who went on the Mediterranean-style diet developed 72% less heart disease than those in the control group. There was also a 56% lower death rate and 61% less cancer than the people in the control group. Simply eating a Mediterranean-style diet is nearly three times more effective at preventing recurrent heart disease and death in post-heart attack patients than is taking a statin. Even more surprising, those on the Mediterranean-style diet did not have lower cholesterol than those eating the standard post-heart attack diet. So when your doctor tells you to get your cholesterol down…keep that in mind.

Google overdosedamerica or centre for medical consumer

Dash Diet - what to expect.

How can you assist a motivated patient?
Patients can obtain information about the DASH diets at this website: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash Collecting 24-hour urine for potassium and sodium establishes where the patient is at baseline; subjects eating an average North American diet excrete approximately 40 mmol of potassium per day and 150 mmol of sodium per day. The potassium target for the DASH diet is a 24-hour urinary potassium of 80 mmol. The sodium target for a low-sodium diet is a 24-hour urinary sodium of 50-100 mmol. These tests cost $1.49 each in BC.