Primary prevention of CVD: diet

Diet is important in the cause of many chronic diseases. Individual change in dietary behaviour has the potential to decrease the burden of chronic disease, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD).

We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of dietary advice in generally healthy adults without existing CVD or increased CVD risk factors to improve cardiovascular outcomes (mortality, cardiovascular events, and cardiovascular risk factors)? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to March 2014 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

We found 14 studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.

In this systematic review, we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: advice to increase fibre intake alone, advice to increase fruit and vegetable intake alone, advice to reduce and/or modify fat intake alone, and advice to reduce sodium intake alone.