- Researchers investigated the impact of different food groups on cardiovascular health.
- They found that diets rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole-fat dairy, and fish were linked to lower cardiovascular risk.
- Further studies are needed to understand how much each component contributes to overall risk reduction.
Unhealthy diets are a
Concurrently, diets such as the
- Fruit
- Vegetables
- Legumes
- Nuts
- Fish
However, recent
Moreover, as most dietary studies have been conducted in North America, Europe, and East Asia, whether previous findings apply to other parts of the world remains to be seen.
Recently, researchers examined diets and health records from 80 countries across five continents.
They found that diets high in fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fish, and whole-fat dairy are linked to a lower risk of CVD and mortality in all world regions. The findings were particularly strong for lower-income countries.
The study was published in theEuropean Heart Journal.
They called the diet score the ‘PURE’ diet score after the study it was based upon.
They also recorded a total of 8,201 major CVD events and 10,076 deaths during the follow-up period.
Based on the PURE diet score, the researchers recommend eating daily:
- 5 servings of fruit and vegetables
- 0.5 serving of legumes
- one serving of nuts
- 0.3 servings of fish
- 2 servings of dairy
- 0.5 servings of red meat
- 0.3 servings of poultry
They also recommended 3-4 weekly servings of legumes and 2-3 weekly servings of fish per week.
“The best we can do with this type of study is to say these six foods are associated with lower risk for cardiovascular disease, but it doesn’t really look at how powerful each of those six foods is in potentially ‘causing’ cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Hunnes explained.
She noted that this is important as it could be that most benefits occurred from eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes and that those who ate these fruits just happened to eat fish and dairy, from which benefits may be smaller.
Dr. Greene added that the findings are easy to misconstrue. She noted that while a pint of decadent ice cream is technically a full-fat dairy product, it is also a highly processed and fattening food, meaning it is best avoided.
“However, a splash of heavy cream in your coffee in the morning would be a better alternative than a low fat/sugar-free flavored creamer—which is a highly processed food that contains chemicals linked to diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Making the distinction when talking about these individual food groups is very important,” she added.
