Following UK dietary advice may cut heart disease risk

Conclusion This study showed that following dietary recommendations closely for 12 weeks can reduce blood pressure by a significant amount, which is likely to cut the chances of having a heart attack or stroke for an average healthy middle-aged person. The diet also affects cholesterol levels, but the overall effect of this may be modest. The study appears to have been carefully conducted to avoid biasing the results. The researchers gave butter or margarine spread and cooking oil to people in both groups, for example, and asked everyone to fill out food diaries, as well as taking urine samples for nutrient analysis. This may have improved the chances of people sticking to the diet they were allocated to. The methods used to analyse blood pressure and other health checks were rigorous and likely to produce reliable results. However, it is disappointing that the study report is not clear about how the researchers reached the headline figure of a one-third drop in the risk of a heart attack or stroke. The report includes much detail about changes to individual risk factors, such as different ways to measure cholesterol, but does not explain how the researchers calculated the overall risk reduction. That said, this is a well-conducted study that offers good-quality evidence of the effects of following the current UK dietary recommendations. Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter. Join the Healthy Evidence forum. Links To The Headl...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Heart/lungs Source Type: news