Patients with heart disease are no more likely to suffer a stroke or heart attack if they eat a diet of fatty and sugary foods, research suggests.
But if they eat a Mediterranean diet, rich in vegetables and olive oil, they can significantly reduce their chance of life-threatening complications.
Doctors have long urged the public to eat healthily to reduce their chances of long-term heart problems.
Evidence over many years has shown that eating too much heavily processed, sweet and deep-fried food significantly increases the risk of developing heart disease.
But the new study, which involved 15,000 participants from 39 countries, set out to establish the impact that diet has on those who already have heart disease.
The team, led by scientists in New Zealand, found that a Mediterranean diet significantly reduced the risk of suffering a major cardiovascular emergency.
They found that for every 100 patients eating this diet – which typically includes oily fish, fruit, vegetables and other unprocessed foods – there were three fewer heart attacks, strokes or deaths over the four-year study period.
A ‘Western diet’ – including refined carbohydrates, sweets and fried foods – was linked to more heart attacks than a Mediterranean diet.
But it did not increase the risk of heart emergencies when compared to the average diet of all the patients, the study said.
The team gave every participant a ‘Mediterranean diet score’ or ‘Western diet score’, depending on the kind of foods they ate.
Study leader Professor Ralph Stewart, of the University of Auckland, said: ‘After adjusting for other factors that might affect the results, we found that every one unit increase in the Mediterranean diet score was associated with a 7 per cent reduction in the risk of heart attacks, strokes or death from cardiovascular or other causes in patients with existing heart disease.
‘In contrast, greater consumption of foods thought be less healthy and more typical of Western diets was not associated with an increase in these adverse events, which we had not expected.’
His team, whose work is published in the European Heart Journal, said the findings applied no matter which country the participants were from. However, they warned the findings did not mean that the public could eat unhealthy foods with impunity.
‘The main message is that some foods – and particularly fruit and vegetables – seem to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and this benefit is not explained by traditional risk factors such as good and bad cholesterol or blood pressure,’ Professor Stewart said.
‘If you eat more of these foods in preference to others, you may lower your risk.’
He added: ‘The study found no evidence of harm from modest consumption of foods such as refined carbohydrates, deep fried foods, sugars and desserts.
However, because the assessments were relatively crude, some harm cannot be excluded.
‘Also, the study did not assess the total intake of calories, which is a major determinant of obesity-related health problems.’
British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra said the study added to evidence that a Mediterranean diet can be even more beneficial to heart disease patients than drugs.
But Dr Nita Forouhi, of the University of Cambridge, said the conclusions were ‘premature’ – particularly as only about 2 per cent of the study’s participants reported daily consumption of deep-fried foods.
By dailymail
