Abstract
Background
Patients with ischaemic heart disease have to perform exercise tests repeatedly. It is not clear if a small meal eaten before the test might influence it and if the meal's composition is important.
Design and method
We performed a double blind, randomised, crossover study on 20 volunteers with documented ischaemic heart disease known to have positive exercise tests. Each had three symptom limited exercise tests done one hour after a 200 ml meal, rich in either fat, carbohydrate or protein. Each postprandial test was compared to a fasting exercise test performed just before the meal.
Results
Postprandial blood pressure, time to angina and to peak exercise and double product at onset of ST-depression were not significantly altered by any of the meals. Heart rate was slightly increased only after the fat meal.
Conclusions
The nutritional composition of a small meal eaten an hour before an exercise test has no clinically important impact on the results of the test in patients with stable angina pectoris.
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