American Heart Association Updates Dietary Guidelines

DALLAS--In light of new evidence from recent clinical trials, the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) released an update of its 1995 guidelines to reduce heart attacks in cardiovascular patients. The updated guidelines were published in the Sept. 24 issue of Circulation (http://circ.ahajournals.org) and will be released in the November issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology (www.cardiosource.com).

Among the recommendations is a suggestion that a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids could reduce the incidence of heart attacks. Additional recommendations included avoiding second hand smoke, treating all heart attack survivors indefinitely with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (drugs used to expand blood vessels and decrease resistance to ease blood blow and reduce the heart's workload), and giving beta-blocker drugs to heart attack survivors and those whose hearts receive an inadequate blood supply.

"Aggressive risk-factor management clearly improves patient survival, reduces the recurrence of heart attacks, strokes and the need for procedures to restore blood flow to the heart, and improves the quality of life of patients," said Sidney Smith, M.D., chief science officer of AHA, who chaired the committee that wrote the update.

The clinical trials that influenced the update of AHA's guidelines included the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Adult Treatment Panel III report, which defined target cholesterol levels, expanded indications for drug treatment and initiated therapy earlier. Also taken into account was the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) trial, which demonstrated the benefit of ACE inhibitor therapy in high-risk patients. The Clopidogrel versus Aspirin in Patients at Risk of Ischemic Events (CAPRIE) trial also provided evidence for the update. In addition, recommendations from the American Diabetes Association and the Heart and Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study (HERS) were taken into account.

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