One does not have to take to lower his cardiovascular disease. The Journal of Nutrition published a study to suggest that simply following a prudent dietary pattern can significantly lower risk for the disease that kills hundreds of thousands Americans each year.
The study intended to examine the effects of dietary patterns on the risk of cardiovascular disease identified three dietary patterns in a study population in Mexico, "prudent pattern", "meat/fish pattern", and "refined foods".
The Prudent diet consists of high amounts of fresh fruit, vegetables, and while grains (Looks like a vegan diet). The Meat/fish pattern includes red meat, processed meat, eggs, fats, fish and poultry. And the "refined foods" pattern includes corn tortillas, refined grains, sugar-added beverages and alcohol. The study finds that the prudent diet is best at preventing cardiovascular disease.
For a 10-year follow-up, study participants who closely followed the prudent dietary pattern were 60% less likely to suffer cardiovascular disease than those who followed other diets.
The refined foods dietary pattern was the most harmful. Participants who followed the diet were three times as likely as those who used least amounts of refined foods to develop cardiovascular disease.
Interestingly, the meat/fish dietary pattern was not significantly associated with risk for cardiovascular disease.
The Western diet consists of both refined foods and meat, so it is likely that Western diet may increase risk for cardiovascular disease even though it may not be as harmful as the dietary pattern with refined foods. Actually some studies linked Western diet to elevated risk for coronary heart disease.
One study authored by Dr. Frank Hu and colleagues at Harvard University and published in 2000 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that individuals aged 40 to 75 years who followed Western diet for seven years were 64% more likely than those who followed the prudent diet to develop coronary heart disease while following the Prudent diet was correlated with a 30% reduced risk.
In this study, the prudent diet consists of vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, fish, and poultry while the Western diet includes high amounts of "red meat, processed meat, refined grains, sweets and dessert, French fries, and high-fat dairy products."
The Mexican study concludes "the prudent pattern is associated with a reduced risk of 10-y CVD, whereas the refined-foods pattern may increase 10-y(ear) CVD in Mexican adults."
Edgar Denova-Gutiérrez, Katherine L Tucker, Mario Flores, Simón Barquera, and Jorge Salmerón, Dietary Patterns Are Associated with Predicted Cardiovascular Disease Risk in an Urban Mexican Adult Population, First published November 18, 2015, doi: 10.3945/jn.115.217539, J. Nutr. January 1, 2016, vol. 146 no. 1 90-97
Frank B Hu, Eric B Rimm, Meir J Stampfer, Alberto Ascherio, Donna Spiegelman, and Walter C Willett, Prospective study of major dietary patterns and risk of coronary heart disease in men, Am J Clin Nutr October 2000 vol. 72 no. 4 912-921
