People in Greece who eat mostly healthy plant foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains tend to have lower heart disease risk—even when you account for things like how old they are, whether they smoke, or how much they weigh.

People in Greece who eat lots of healthy plant foods like whole grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables over 10 years are much less likely to get heart disease than those who eat very little of these foods.

If Greek adults eat more unhealthy plant-based foods like white bread, soda, sweets, and fried potatoes, they’re 34% more likely to develop heart disease for every small increase in how unhealthy their diet is.

Eating more healthy plant-based foods like vegetables, fruits, and beans is linked to a lower risk of heart disease—even when you account for common health problems like high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. This suggests these foods protect your heart in ways that go beyond just fixing those common issues.

Eating mostly plants like vegetables, fruits, and beans can help people who are at risk for heart disease or already have it lose weight and shrink their waistline, which might make their heart health better.

Eating a plant-based diet doesn’t seem to make Greek adults more or less likely to get heart disease, no matter if the plants are healthy or not—because the data is too fuzzy to tell for sure.