In a new study, researchers found that making some small changes in daily diet could help reduce heart disease by about 30%.
The findings highlight the role of a healthy diet in people’s heart health.
Currently, heart disease remains the major contributor to the global burden of disease worldwide.
High levels of LDL cholesterol is a big risk factor of heart disease, and fat in daily diet plays an important role in changing LDL cholesterol and influencing the risk of heart disease.
Previous research has shown that replacing saturated fatty acids with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) can reduce the risk of heart disease.
However, there is still controversy about beneficial versus potential harmful effects of n-6 PUFA because n-6 PUFA has been suggested to raise inflammation.
In the study, the researchers examined how exchanging some common food items with food with the better fat quality for eight weeks could reduce total and LDL cholesterol in the body.
They replaced saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat in common food items such as a spread on bread and fat for cooking, cheese, bread, and cereals.
They found that small changes could reduce total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol by 9 % and 11 %, respectively.
The changes also led to almost 30% reduction in heart disease risk.
The team suggests that having healthy fats in the daily diet is very important to people’s heart health.
They suggest that the Nordic diet can help achieve this goal.
The Nordic diet is a diet focusing on locally sourced foods in the Nordic countries, such as Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
It highlights fruits, berries, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish, low-fat dairy and canola oil.
People eat free-range eggs, cheese, and yogurt in moderation in this diet.
The Nordic diet limits red meats and animal fats and excludes sugar-sweetened beverages, processed meats, and refined fast foods.
This diet is very similar to the Mediterranean diet, except that it emphasizes canola oil instead of extra virgin olive oil.
Previous research has shown that the Nordic diet could have a beneficial effect on blood lipids in people at risk of heart disease.
The researchers suggest that future work needs to develop an effective strategy to help people achieve this with relatively small dietary changes.
This can help improved lipid profile and reduce heart disease risk.
The study is published in the British Journal of Nutrition.
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