Eat Good Food, Avoid Bad Food to Keep Your Heart Healthy
Cardiovascular Disease Prevention by Diet Modification: JACC Health Promotion Series.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Fermented dairy like yogurt and cheese may have neutral or even slightly protective effects on heart health.
For decades, dairy was vilified for saturated fat — but this study shows fermented dairy doesn’t raise risk and may even help due to probiotics.
Practical Takeaways
Swap one sugary drink per day for water — that alone reduces heart disease risk.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Fermented dairy like yogurt and cheese may have neutral or even slightly protective effects on heart health.
For decades, dairy was vilified for saturated fat — but this study shows fermented dairy doesn’t raise risk and may even help due to probiotics.
Practical Takeaways
Swap one sugary drink per day for water — that alone reduces heart disease risk.
Publication
Journal
Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Year
2018
Authors
Edward Yu, Vasanti S. Malik, F. Hu
Related Content
Claims (6)
Eating healthy, nutritious food can help lower your chances of having heart problems like heart attacks or strokes.
If you swap out butter and fatty meats for oils like olive oil or nuts, you might lower your risk of heart disease—but if you swap them for white bread or sugary snacks, it doesn’t help and might even hurt.
Eating processed meats like bacon and sausages might raise your risk of heart disease more the more you eat, because these foods contain chemicals that can trigger body inflammation, damage cells, and mess up your gut bacteria.
Drinking more sugary drinks like soda is linked to a higher chance of heart problems, partly because it makes you gain weight, but also because it directly messes with your blood sugar, insulin, fats in your blood, and blood pressure.
People who eat healthy diets like the Mediterranean, DASH, or AHEI style tend to have a 20–30% lower chance of dying from heart problems, because these diets include good foods and avoid bad ones.