Effect of cholesterol-lowering diet on mortality from coronary heart-disease and other causes. A twelve-year clinical trial in men and women
Miettinen, M.; Turpeinen, O.; Karvonen, M.J.; Elosuo, R.; Paavilainen, E.
Lancet 2(7782): 835-838
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0140-6736 PMID: 4116551 Document Number: 6
Patients in a mental hospital in Finland were given from 1959 to 1965 a modified diet in which an emulsion of soya bean oil in skimmed milk replaced all ordinary milk and a margarine with a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids replaced butter and ordinary margarine. From 1965 to 1971 the patients were given diets of normal foods. Patients in another mental hospital were given normal foods between 1959 and 1965 and the modified diet between 1965 and 1971. The ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids was between 0.22 and 0.29:1 in the normal diet and between 1.42 and 1.78:1 in the modified diet.The ratio of linoleic acid to myristic acid in adipose tissue obtained by muscle biopsy was in patients who had consumed normal diets for 5 years between 2.2 and 2.7 and in patients given the modified diet for 5 years between 18.0 and 21.7:1. Mean serum cholesterol was reduced by 12 to 18% when they were on the modified diet.The pooled age-adjusted death rates for men on the modified diet were for all causes 34.84 and for coronary heart disease 6.61/1000 patient years. Corresponding rates for men on normal diets were 39.50 and 14.08, for women on the modified diet 30.87 and 5.21 and for women on the normal diet 29.01 and 7.90. The modified diet had no effect on mortality rates for cerebrovascular disease, other disorders of the circulatory system or malignant neoplasms.
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