Effects of a Community-Based Behavioral Intervention with a Traditional Atlantic Diet on Cardiometabolic Risk Markers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial ("The GALIAT Study")

• Published in: Nutrients 2021-04, Vol.13 (4), p.1211
• Main Authors: Calvo-Malvar, Mar, Benítez-Estévez, Alfonso J, Sánchez-Castro, Juan, Leis, Rosaura, Gude, Francisco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Adult; Adults; anthropometric variables; Anthropometry; Atlantic diet; Behavior Therapy; Blood pressure; Body measurements; Body Weight; Cardiometabolic Risk Factors; Cardiovascular diseases; Case-Control Studies; Cholesterol; Cholesterol - blood; Consent; Cooking; Coronary artery disease; Cultural heritage; Diet; Diet, Mediterranean; Disease prevention; Families & family life; family-based randomized trial; Feeding Behavior; Female; Field study; GALIAT Study; Glucose metabolism; Health care; Health Planning Guidelines; Health risks; Heart diseases; Humans; Inflammation; Insulin resistance; Intervention; Ischemia; Lipids; Male; Markers; metabolic risk factors; Nutrition; Nutrition education; Nutrition research; nutritional intervention; Nutritionists; Patient Compliance; Population; Primary care; Recipes; Residence Characteristics; Triglycerides; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13041211

The Atlantic diet, the traditional dietary pattern in northern Portugal and northwest Spain, has been related to metabolic health and low ischemic heart disease mortality. The Galiat Study is a randomized controlled trial aimed to assess the effects of the Atlantic diet on anthropometric variables, metabolic profile, and nutritional habits. The dietary intervention was conducted in 250 families (720 adults and children) and performed at a primary care center. Over six months, families randomized to the intervention group received educational sessions, cooking classes, written supporting material, and foods that form part of the Atlantic diet, whereas those randomized to the control group followed their habitual lifestyle. 213 families (92.4%) completed the trial. Adults in the intervention group lost weight as opposed to controls who gained weight (adjusted mean difference -1.1 kg, < 0.001) and total serum cholesterol (adjusted mean difference -5.2 mg/dL, = 0.004). Significant differences in favor of the intervention were found in other anthropometric variables and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, but changes in triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, inflammation markers, blood pressure, and glucose metabolism were not observed. A family-based nutritional intervention based on the Atlantic diet showed beneficial effects on adiposity and the lipid profile.