Acceptance of Low-Sodium Hospital Diet by Cardiac Patients: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of hospitalization. Dietary salt restriction is indicated as part of clinical treatment, however, it is not always well accepted by the patients, resulting in low food intake and malnutrition. Objective: To compare acceptance of a low-sodium diet cooked with salt with a standard low-sodium diet in cardiac inpatients. Methods: A randomized controlled crossover trial in patients with low-sodium diet prescriptions (Clinical Trials NCT03481322). Patients were given a control standard low sodium diet (cooked without salt; salt [2g per meal] added by the patient at the time of consumption) on one day and on the next day patients were given the intervention diet – a low sodium diet cooked with salt (2 grams of salt, divided between preparations). Dietary acceptance was evaluated by weighing leftover food and calculating intake. A questionnaire was used to verify reasons that influenced acceptance. For data analysis, parametric data are presented as mean and standard deviation, Student’s t test was used to compare means, with significance defined as p<0.05. Results: Sixty-four patients were evaluated, with a mean age of 66 ± 11.3 years; 64% were male. There were no differences in percentage acceptance between the standard low-sodium diet and the low-sodium diet cooked with salt at lunch (p= 0.876) or at dinner (p= 0.255). Around 80% of what was offered at each meal was consumed by the patients, with no significant difference between groups. Conclusions: The low-sodium diet cooked with salt was well accepted, but there was no difference when compared with the standard low-sodium diet, which also had adequate acceptance.