Most people in the UK could cut their risk of heart disease and stroke by a third by changing their diet to national guidelines, according to a new study.
Researchers persuaded some 80 healthy people to adjust their diets to eat oily fish just once a week and to make other changes.
These included more fish and vegetables, wholegrain cereals, less salt and sugar and replacing high fat dairy and meat with low-fat alternatives.
They were also persuaded to replace cakes and cookies with fruit and nuts and use oils high in monounsaturated fat.
The researchers at King’s College, London, UK, say that over a 12 week period this led to a loss of weight of 1.3kg (2 lbs) and falls in blood pressure ranging from 1.9 mm Hg to 4.3 mm Hg between day and night time. There were also small improvements in cholesterol levels.
For the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the volunteers were compared with another 80 volunteers who ate a "traditional" British diet – and mostly put on weight.
The researchers say the volunteers faced an estimated risk of developing heart disease in the following decade of 8% if they were men and 4% if they were women. This was cut by a third by the changes resulting from improved diet.
Researcher Professor Tom Sanders said: "Our findings apply to middle-aged and older people without existing health problems. This is important because most heart attacks and strokes occur in those not identified as being at high risk.
"We show that adherence to current dietary guidelines which advocate a change in dietary pattern from the traditional British diet (high in saturated fat, salt and sugar, low in fibre, oily fish and fruit and vegetables) would substantially lower that risk."
The findings were welcomed by the British Heart Foundation.
Dietitian Tracy Parker said: This study reinforces the advice that making small changes to improve your diet can have a big impact on reducing your risk of heart attack and stroke.
“Those people who stuck to the dietary guidelines and ate more fruit, vegetables and oily fish, while reducing saturated fat, salt and sugar intake, significantly reduced their weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels."
Dianne P Reidlinger et al. How effective are current dietary guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention in healthy middle-aged and older men and women? A randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 18 March 2015; doi: 10.3945/ajcn.114.097352
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