Heart Attacks and Diet

Your heart health is shaped by many factors, and diet is among the most powerful you can actually control. The typical "Western" pattern — heavy in processed and fried food, refined carbohydrate, salt and saturated fat — actively promotes cardiovascular disease. Changing it improves everyday wellbeing, helps you reach a healthy weight, lowers blood pressure, improves cholesterol and reduces your risk of a heart attack.

A good diet helps even if you already have a heart condition.

Thinking in food groups

Fad diets tend to revolve around one or two "miracle" foods. They are difficult to sustain and often leave nutritional gaps. A more useful approach is to organise food into broad groups and get the balance roughly right most of the time.

Fruit and vegetables

The foundation of almost every heart-healthy eating pattern. Aim for at least five portions a day, and vary the types — different colours provide different nutrients.

A portion is roughly a handful, for example:

One apple, banana or orange
Three heaped tablespoons of cooked vegetables
Two broccoli spears
Three apricots
A 150 ml glass of juice or smoothie — which counts as a maximum of one portion per day, however much you drink, because blending and juicing releases the sugars

Alongside vitamins and minerals, fruit and vegetables provide fibre, which supports healthy cholesterol metabolism and bowel health.

Starchy carbohydrates

Potatoes, bread, pasta, rice and cereals form a substantial part of most balanced diets. The type matters more than the amount for most people: wholegrain versions provide considerably more fibre and nutrients than refined white varieties, and are associated with lower cardiovascular risk.

Preparation matters too — frying, and particularly deep-frying, adds large amounts of fat and calories to foods that are otherwise perfectly healthy.

Dairy

Dairy provides calcium, iodine, protein and B vitamins, but full-fat versions are significant sources of saturated fat. Lower-fat milk and yoghurt retain the nutrients with less saturated fat. Plain yoghurt with fruit makes a good high-protein option; fermented dairy such as yoghurt and kefir appears to sit favourably in cardiovascular research.

Protein

Protein foods supply the amino acids your body uses to build and repair tissue.

Oily fish — salmon, mackerel, sardines and herring provide omega-3 fatty acids. Aim for two portions of fish a week, one of them oily.
Beans, lentils and chickpeas — protein plus a large amount of fibre, and consistently associated with better heart health.
Poultry and lean cuts of meat — lower in saturated fat than fatty red meat.
Nuts and seeds — unsalted, a small handful daily.

Processed meat — bacon, sausages, ham, salami — is worth limiting particularly, being high in both saturated fat and salt.

Fats: the type matters most

Cutting fat indiscriminately is outdated advice. What consistently helps is replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat.

Limit saturated fat — butter, hard cheese, fatty and processed meat, pastries, cakes and biscuits. UK guidance suggests no more than around 30 g a day for men and 20 g for women.
Choose unsaturated fat — olive and rapeseed oil, nuts, seeds, avocado and oily fish.
Avoid trans fats where you see partially hydrogenated oils listed.

Salt

High salt intake raises blood pressure, the single biggest modifiable risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Aim for under 6 g a day. Most of it is hidden in bread, sauces, ready meals, processed meat and stock — not the salt cellar. Herbs, spices, lemon and vinegar season food perfectly well.

Sugar

Free sugars should make up no more than about 5% of daily energy. Sugary drinks are the easiest place to start — they contribute calories with essentially no effect on fullness.

Alcohol

Alcohol is not inherently harmful in small amounts, but the older idea that moderate drinking protects the heart has weakened considerably in recent research. UK guidance is no more than 14 units a week for both men and women, spread over several days with drink-free days. There is no level of drinking that is actively good for you.

The overall pattern

The Mediterranean pattern — abundant vegetables, fruit, pulses, wholegrains, nuts and olive oil, regular fish, modest dairy, little processed meat or refined sugar — remains the best-evidenced approach for cardiovascular health. No single food will make or break your heart health; the overall pattern, sustained over years, is what counts.

Knowing your numbers

Rightangled's home blood tests can measure cholesterol, lipids and HbA1c, and our DNA tests assess inherited cardiovascular risk. Results are reviewed by our clinical team, which includes GPhC-registered independent prescribers, with medical oversight from our doctor, Dr Abdullah.

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