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• Researchers have found that people who stuck to healthy eating had an up to 21% lower risk of cardiovascular disease
• Healthy diets concentrated on unrefined plant foods and the scaling down of meat and sugar  
• Such eating patterns lowered cardiovascular risk in all racial and ethnic groups 

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Sticking with a healthy diet can lower your risk for stroke and heart attack, a new study suggests.

“Although each healthy eating pattern represents a different combination of dietary constituents, our study indicates that greater adherence to any of the four healthy eating patterns we looked at is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and the health benefits persist across racial and ethnic groups,” said study author Zhilei Shan. He is a research associate in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston.

For the study, Shan’s group focused on dietary scores for four healthy eating patterns: Healthy Eating Index-2015; Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score; Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index; and Alternate Healthy Eating Index.

Although each diet was different, they all stressed eating whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes and nuts, while eating less red and processed meat and sugar-sweetened drinks.

Long-term health benefits

The researchers compared each diet with the risk for cardiovascular disease using data on nearly 75 000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study and nearly 91 000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II. They also used data on more than 43 000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

Over several decades of follow-up, the researchers found that people who kept to a healthy eating pattern had a 14% to 21% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, compared with people who didn’t always eat a healthy diet.

All of the healthy eating patterns had a similar effect in lowering cardiovascular risk in all racial and ethnic groups – including the risk of heart disease and stroke.

According to researcher Dr Frank Hu, “These data provide further evidence to support current dietary guidelines that following healthy eating patterns confers long-term health benefits on cardiovascular disease prevention.” Hu is a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard.

“There is no one-size-fits-all diet that is best for everyone. One can combine foods in a variety of flexible ways to achieve healthy eating patterns according to individuals’ health needs, food preferences, and cultural traditions,” he said in a school news release.

The study was published online on 15 June in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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• On average, Americans get one in five calories from restaurants
• Healthier menu choices based on number of calories can add years to patrons’ lives
• Calorie labelling in restaurants may also eventually save billions in healthcare costs

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Calorie labelling requirements for menus in US restaurant chains could save tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in healthcare and other costs, a new study claims.

Researchers created a model to assess what would happen if the labelling rule led to moderate calorie reductions among 1 million Americans, aged 35 to 80.

Between 2018, when the law went into effect, and 2023, healthier menu choices could prevent 14 698 new cases of heart disease (including 1 575 deaths) and 21 522 new type 2 diabetes cases, the study concluded. Healthier menu choices could add 8 749 years of life (in good health).

Over a lifetime, healthier menu choices could head off an estimated 135 781 new cases of heart disease (including 27 646 deaths); prevent 99 736 cases of type 2 diabetes; and add 367 450 years of life (in good health), researchers concluded.

More calories at home

That translates to a savings of up to $14 billion (R243 billion) in healthcare costs, as well as up to $5 billion (R87 billion) in lost productivity and other costs, according to the study recently published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

“Prior to Covid-19, Americans were relying on restaurants for one in five calories, on average. Most likely, we will come to rely on them again. Our study shows that menu calorie labelling may prevent meaningful disease and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs,” said co-author Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University in Boston.

Based on prior studies of food labelling, the model suggested that calorie counts on menus would result in 7% fewer calories eaten during an average restaurant meal.

But researchers conservatively assumed that half of the “saved” restaurant calories would be offset by additional calories consumed by diners elsewhere, such as at home.

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