sthomas@vancourier.com
The timing for St. Paul’s Hospital’s Healthy Heart Program couldn't be better. Researchers at St. Paul’s are recruiting patients for a study to determine whether a diet high in cholesterol-busting fibre and plants, coupled with exercise, can reduce the size of artery-clogging plaque and lower other risk factors for heart disease.
The study hopes to determine if diet and exercise decreases hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), which can lead to heart disease and stroke. The five-year study of 200 people will take place in Vancouver, Toronto and Quebec City. St. Paul’s will enrol 50 people in Vancouver who can participate in the study for three years.
The study follows the hospital’s 2011 Portfolio Diet study, which looked at whether it could be as effective as cholesterol-lowering medications in combating heart disease. That study found the diet reduced bad levels of cholesterol (LDL) by 13 per cent on average.
The new study will use the same Portfolio Diet, which is mainly a vegetarian diet rich in plant sterols, high-soluble fibre, nuts, and soy proteins each of them known to decrease bad cholesterol. This study will differ from the 2011 study, by adding exercise to determine the impact of diet and exercise on atherosclerosis.
Dr. Jiri Frohlich, lead investigator at St. Paul’s and head of the hospital’s Healthy Heart Program Clinical Trials, said the study will examine more deeply whether this particular diet, plus exercise, will affect not only risk factors such as LDL cholesterol, but also the disease itself.
Researchers will measure plaque size in participants’ carotid and coronary arteries with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) three times during the study.
Criteria to take part:
Recruiters seek men aged 21 and over and postmenopausal women, with each group having a body mass index (a measure of height and weight), of between 25 and 40, who have minor atherosclerosis measured at screening.
Candidates must also have one of the three following conditions:
· Type 2 diabetes with one of the following: raised LDL-C, raised blood pressure or active smoking.
· No diabetes, but with known heart disease (heart attack, angioplasty) and being treated with a cholesterol-lowering medication known as a statin.
· High cholesterol and being treated with a statin or has been prescribed a statin, but is not taking it.
Participants will be divided into two groups and both will be provided with nutritional counselling by a registered dietitian. One group will also receive regular exercise counselling.
As with the Portfolio Diet, this study was created by University of Toronto researcher and clinician Dr. David Jenkins. The majority of the study is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research in addition to various food sponsors.
Those who think they may qualify for the study can email combinedportfolio@providencehealth.bc.ca or call 604-806-9624.
