Dietary counselling in early post-myocardial infarction cardiac rehabilitation is associated with improved dietary habits and favourable body composition changes
J Popiolek-KaliszAbstract
Background
Early post–myocardial infarction (MI) cardiac rehabilitation (CR) represents a critical window for secondary prevention. Dietary counselling is routinely implemented, however, data describing concurrent changes in diet quality and body composition during early post-MI CR remain limited.
Purpose
To evaluate changes in body composition and dietary habits during early post-MI CR, and to explore associations between nutritional knowledge and dietary habits after MI.
Methods
50 post-MI patients, undergoing a 3 month CR programme including dietary counselling, were enrolled in this prospective study. Baseline and final assessments included body composition (BMI, fat mass, fat-free mass proportions) and dietary information including Mediterranean diet adherence, overall diet quality and nutritional knowledge assessed with validated questionaries.
Results
In patients undergoing CR BMI decreased from 27.17 [25.46; 29.41] to 26.81 [24.77; 28.73] (p<0.001), body fat percentage decreased from 38.23 [33.09; 41.18] to 36.90 [32.81; 38.75] % (p<0.001), and fat free mass percentage increased from 61.77 [58.82; 66.91] to 63.10 [61.25; 67.19] % (p<0.001). Dietary habits improved, with Mediterranean diet adherence increasing from 5.00 [4.00; 7.00] to 7.00 [6.00; 8.00] points (p<0.001) and overall diet quality index increasing from 5.87 [−0.04; 17.39] to 15.21 [5.61; 23.70] points (p=0.005). The nutritional knowledge score did not change significantly (13.50 [11.00; 16.00] vs 15.00 [12.00; 18.00] points; p=0.110). At follow-up, nutritional knowledge correlated with Mediterranean diet adherence (R=0.441; p=0.001) and overall diet quality (R=0.286; p=0.044).
Conclusion
During early post-MI CR with dietary counselling, patients demonstrated significant improvements in dietary habits alongside favourable body composition changes. Despite not significant changes in nutritional knowledge itself, the final knowledge score was associated with better dietary adherence and quality, supporting the clinical relevance of educational components within CR programmes.