Are low fat diets effective for reducing heart disease?

In recent years food manufacturers have been trying to convince us that low fat foods are better for our hearts.  But are they right?

A recent review in The American Journal of Medicine looked at several major diet and heart disease studies conducted over the past decades.   These show a clear link between diet, furring of the arteries and cardiovascular events (strokes and heart attacks).   They found that a ”whole diet” approach to nutrition with equal attention to what is eaten as well as what is excluded, is more effective in preventing cardiovascular disease than low-fat, low-cholesterol diets.

 People who ate a Mediterranean-style diet had a greater reduction in deaths from cardiovascular disease than those who followed a low-fat regime.

The Mediterranean-style diet emphasizes consumption of vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, and fish and encourages intake of monounsaturated fats found in nuts and olive oil

The research paper can be found here:

http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(13)01111-X/abstract

Next steps

Nutritional Therapy can assist you in improving your diet to reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease.

Penny Dembo, an experienced Nutritional Therapist is joining us at The Treatment Space in March and will be able to support you in working to improve your health.