Best Diet for a Healthy Heart

It's not how much, but what kind of fat that matters

Nov. 26, 2002 -- Forget the "fat-free" mantra of the 1990s already. It's time to move on. Researchers now say it's more important to watch what kind of fat you eat and put more fish, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains on your plate if you want to reduce your risk of heart disease and live a longer, healthier life.

A review of studies linking diet and heart health in the Nov. 27 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association shows a combination of those dietary strategies is best way to protect yourself against heart disease.

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"There has been lots of confusion on the role of nutrition in heart disease, with some promoting a high-fat diet and some promoting a low-fat diet. So we took a careful look at the science," says study author Frank Hu, MD, PhD, associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Researchers examined nearly 150 studies on the role of several dietary factors in preventing heart disease and found three major approaches emerged as the most effective:

• Replacing saturated and trans fats with unsaturated fats (especially polyunsaturated fat).
• Increasing consumption of omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil or plant sources such as soybeans or canola oil.
• Eating a diet high in a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains and low in refined grains.

Hu says no single diet is ideal for everyone, but the study suggests a combination of these approaches can have a dramatic impact on reducing heart disease.

Until recently, most major dietary guidelines have focused on keeping the amount of fat a person consumes each day at about 30% of the total daily calorie intake. But Hu says it's confusing to ask people to follow strict criteria for a low-fat diet.

"Stringent criteria for total fat resulted in a low-fat campaign, and this actually backfired," says Hu. "The public began eating more refined carbohydrates and sugars, and it may have something to do with the current increases in obesity and diabetes we're seeing."

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