Diet Therapy Fortified with Plant-Based Specialized Products to Prevent Cardiovascular Risk

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, largely due to unhealthy diet, obesity, and associated metabolic disorders. Formulating specialized food products incorporating milk fat replacers could help reduce these risks. Forty patients from the personalized diet therapy department were recruited for the study and randomized into two groups. The study group (n = 20) received a low-calorie diet fortified with a specialized preventative product, while the control group (n = 20) received an unfortified diet. The diagnostic tests included a clinical examination (medical history, physical examination, and anthropometric measurements such as body mass index, blood pressure, and heart rate), laboratory tests (clinical and biochemical blood tests, analyses of the lipid profile, carbohydrate metabolism, vitamin status, and antioxidant activity), instrumental methods (bioimpedance analysis, indirect calorimetry), as well as diet analysis, protein metabolism analysis, sensory evaluation, and monitoring of side effects. Statistical analysis was performed in StatTech v.3.0.4. Fortifying the diet with the specialized product resulted in a significant reduction in total cholesterol (by 13.5%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (by 12.1%), and fat mass (by 1.5%) with preserved muscle tissue. Significant improvements in metabolic parameters included a 13.0% decrease in homocysteine levels, lower oxidative stress (malonaldehyde down by 31.9%), and a 58.3% increase in vitamin B12. The administration of this diet therapy was not associated with the development of any adverse reactions. The specialized preventative product manufactured using cheese technology can be recommended for use in preventative nutrition to reduce cardiovascular risks.