A study led by researchers at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) has found that eating fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, fish, and produce Full-fat dairy is key to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes.
Therefore, the researchers say that not eating enough of six key foods in combination is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults.
The research also found that a healthy diet can be achieved in a number of ways, such as including moderate amounts of whole grains or unprocessed meats.
Previous and similar work has focused on Western countries and diets that combine harmful ultra-processed foods with nutrient-dense foods. This research was global in scope and focused on foods commonly considered healthy.
The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 18 million people died of CVD in 2019, representing 32 percent of all deaths globally. Of these deaths, 85 percent were due to heart attacks and strokes.
PHRI researchers and their global collaborators analyzed data from 245,000 people in 80 countries from multiple studies. The results, which have been published in the European Heart Journal, derived a diet score from PHRI's large-scale, ongoing global Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological Study (PURE), and then replicated it in five independent studies to measure the health outcomes in different regions of the world and in people with and without previous CVD.
"Previous diet scores, including the EAT-Lancet planetary diet and the Mediterranean diet, tested the relationship of diet with cardiovascular disease and death primarily in Western countries. The PURE Healthy Diet Score included a good representation of high-, middle-, and low-income countries," says lead author and PURE researcher Salim Yusuf.
In addition to being truly global, the PURE Healthy Diet Score focused on exclusively protective or natural foods.
"We were unique in that approach. The other diet ranks combination foods that are considered unhealthy, such as processed and ultra-processed foods, with foods and nutrients that are thought to protect health," said first author, a PHRI scientist and assistant professor. in the Department of Health Research at McMaster, Andrew Mente.
The researcher points out that "moderate amounts of fish and full-fat dairy products are associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality."
However, he adds that "the same health results can be achieved with moderate consumption of grains and meats, as long as they are unrefined whole grains and raw meats."
The PURE Healthy Diet Score recommends an average daily intake of: two to three servings of fruits and vegetables; a serving of nuts; two servings of dairy The score also includes three to four weekly servings of legumes and two to three weekly servings of fish. Possible substitutes included whole grains in one serving daily and raw meat or poultry in one serving daily.
