Introduction: The long-term effects on diet of dietary advice to eat fruit and vegetables or fatty fish are not well described.
Materials and methods: From 1990 to 1996 3114 men aged 37-70 with treated angina were recruited from general practices in South Wales. A dietitian randomly allocated the eligible men to receive advice to eat more fruit and vegetables, or advice to eat more fatty fish, or both these types of advice or neither. In 2000, a brief self-completion questionnaire was sent to a sample of 1191 of the men known to be alive at the end of March 1999.
Results: The questionnaire was returned by 944 of the 1036 men alive at the time the questionnaire was sent. Those given fish advice were consuming more fatty fish but the difference was modest 21.9 g day(-1) vs. 14.0 g day(-1) (P < 0.01). The differences in fruit and vegetables intake between those given fruit advice and those not given fruit advice were small 373.2 g day(-1) vs. 351.7 g day(-1) (P = 0.05).
Discussion: Men of this age group may be particularly resistant to fruit and vegetables advice; population-based interventions or interventions targeted at women might be more effective.