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| Credit: Morguefile |
Patients who
have had a heart attack or stroke are put on a variety of medications to
prevent recurrence. Results of a new study show eating a heart healthy diet
further lowers a person’s chances of a second stroke or heart attack that goes
beyond what medication alone can do to boost cardiovascular health.
Authors for
the study suggest patients with heart disease often rely on their medicines to
keep their blood pressures lower and cholesterol levels intact.
But the study
authors say relying on medication use alone is “wrong”. Changing your diet can have
additional benefits that can lower your chances of dying from heart disease
significantly.
Eating a heart
healthy diet can significantly reduce your chances of a second heart attack or
stroke, shown in one of the first studies of its kind.
McMaster
University researchers found people who ate plenty of fruits and vegetables and
low animal fat diet:
- · Lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by 35 percent
- · Reduced their risk for new heart attack by 14 percent
- · Had a 28 percent lower chance of congestive heart failure
- · Experienced a 19 percent reduction in stroke risk
The study
included 2,000 patients whose average age was 66.5 years; from 40 countries.
The findings
were based on data from two major McMaster
University-led global studies: ONTARGET, and TRANSCEND.
Participants
were asked about their dietary intake of fruits, vegetables, milk, grains,
fish, nuts, meat and poultry over the past year. Activity levels, alcohol and
tobacco use were also assessed.
A heart
healthy diet was considered high intake of fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables as
opposed to eggs, poultry and meat.
Consuming a
heart healthy diet was associated with a 20 percent overall lower risk of cardiovascular
disease in all regions of the world with ‘consistent benefits’ that trumped
medications for preventing heart disease and stroke that kills 17.3 million
people each year, according to the World
Health Organization.
The study’s lead author and nutritionist at McMaster
University’s Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) says the
finding shows eating a heart healthy diet has added benefits for heart attack
and stroke prevention for patients taking aspirin, cholesterol lowering
medicines and other heart medications.
“Physicians should advise their high-risk patients to improve their diet
and eat more vegetables, fruits, grains and fish,” Dehghan said in a press
release. “This could substantially reduce cardiovascular recurrence beyond drug
therapy alone and save lives globally.”
The finding showed that though medications are crucial for heart disease
treatment, patients can lower their chances of another heart attack or stroke
by 20 percent by simply focusing on eating plenty of fish, grains, nuts and
fruits and vegetables as opposed to eating meat, poultry and eggs.
The new study suggests a heart healthy diet has benefits that extend
beyond medications to prevent recurring stroke and heart attack.
Reference:
December 3, 2012
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