A Mediterranean diet supplemented with dairy foods improves markers of cardiovascular risk: results from the MedDairy randomized controlled trial.
What this study found
The MedDairy diet improved several cardiovascular risk markers versus the low-fat diet and was considered feasible in this Australian population. It significantly lowered morning home systolic and diastolic blood pressure, clinic systolic blood pressure, total triglycerides, and the total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio, while increasing HDL cholesterol and lowering afternoon heart rate. There were no clear changes in glucose, insulin, CRP, HOMA indices, or Framingham Risk Score. Participants also met calcium recommendations during MedDairy, with mean calcium intake about 1284 mg/day,…
- Study & population
- Randomized crossover trial in 41 community-dwelling Australian adults aged 45 to 75 years at risk of cardiovascular disease and not currently following a Mediterranean diet.
- Intervention
- The MedDairy phase used a Mediterranean-style diet adapted to meet Australian calcium guidelines, with three or more weekly servings of fish and seafood, five or more weekly servings of nuts or seeds, extra virgin olive oil as the main cooking fat, ad libitum whole grains, vegetables, eggs, and select white meats,…
- Key limitation
- The trial was small, single-center, and short term, with only 8-week intervention phases and modest completion numbers across the crossover periods.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Background The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) offers benefits to cardiovascular health but may not meet Western recommendations for calcium and dairy intake, which could impede long-term adoption. Objective The current study aimed to determine the effect of a MedDiet supplemented with dairy foods on cardiovascular risk factors. Design A randomized, controlled, crossover design compared a MedDiet with 3-4 daily servings of dairy (MedDairy) and a low-fat (LF) control diet. Forty-one participants aged ≥45 y and at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) were randomly allocated to their first intervention, either the MedDairy or LF diet. Participants followed each intervention for 8 wk, and an 8-wk washout period separated interventions. The primary outcome was home-measured systolic blood pressure (SBP) assessed in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Secondary outcomes included clinic-measured blood pressure (morning), body composition, blood lipids, C-reactive protein (CRP), plasma glucose, serum insulin, and the Framingham Risk Score. Results Compared with the LF intervention, the MedDairy intervention resulted in a significantly lower morning SBP (mean difference: -1.6 mm Hg; 95% CI: -2.8, -0.4 mm Hg; P = 0.01), lower morning diastolic blood pressure (mean difference: -1.0; 95% CI: -1.7, -0.2 mm Hg; P = 0.01) and clinic SBP (mean difference: -3.5 mm Hg; 95% CI: -6.4, -0.7 mm Hg; P = 0.02), significantly higher HDL cholesterol (mean difference: 0.04 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.06 mmol/L; P < 0.01), lower triglycerides (mean difference: = -0.05 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.08, -0.01 mmol/L; P < 0.01), and lower ratio of total to HDL cholesterol (mean difference: -0.4; 95% CI: -0.6, -0.2; P < 0.001). No effects were observed for other outcome measures. Conclusions Following a MedDiet with additional dairy foods led to significant changes in markers of cardiovascular risk over 8 wk. The MedDiet supplemented with dairy may be appropriate for an improvement in cardiovascular risk factors in a population at risk of CVD. This trial was registered at anzctr.org.au as ACTRN12616000309482.