Plant diet might still worsen heart disease risk, experts warn

A common diet technique to ‘cut down heart disease risk’ might not actually work if you’re substituting meat with certain plant foods

Cutting out red meat and turning towards a plant-based diet is common advice for people wanting to lower their risk of cardiovascular issues. Red meat may contribute to higher cholesterol and processed meats are often high in fat and salt, increasing blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease.

However, just cutting out this food group may not be enough according to a new study. It found that even if you’re turning vegetarian you could be choosing less healthy vegetables that will still be increasing your risk of heart disease without any meat involved, according to News Medical.

Essentially, the study has revealed that instead of just trading meat for veg, we need to be focused on which plant foods we are eating if we want to truly reduce our risk of heart issues. In the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers from Johns Hopkins University analysed more than 7,000 US adults. They assessed heart health and diets focused on healthy and less healthy plant consumption.

What are less healthy plants? The study cites another piece of research in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that identifies French fries, baked or mashed potatoes and potato or corn chips as examples of less healthy plant foods. It also lists refined grains such as white rice, white bread and refined grain breakfast cereal as other less healthy plant foods.

Eating less healthy plants was linked to elevated levels of cardiac troponins. These indicate muscle damage in the heart and can be used to diagnose heart diseases like myocardial infarction.

People who ate less healthy plant-based foods faced a 65% higher chance of having higher cardiac troponin levels. Eating more healthy plants was found to lower these levels.

According to the American Heart Association, healthy plant-based foods offer high fibre levels, low saturated fats and a lot of antioxidants. Scientists focused on the DASH diet and hPDI. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and is often recommended for people facing high blood pressure.

The DASH diet focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein while limiting sodium, fat and sugars. The study found that sticking to the DASH diet for 12 weeks could progressively drop the levels of heart disease biomarkers.

The term hPDI stands for the healthful Plant-Based Diet Index. This diet limits animal-based and animal-derived foods as well as cutting out plant-based foods that have refined grains or added sugars. It also has a focus on whole grains, nuts, legumes and fruits.

The study did have some limitations, though. It relied on participants self-reporting their diet and cardiovascular disease history. This could lead to some bias and recall issues that may have skewed the results. But researchers still hope it can encourage people to be more aware and adopt healthy plant-based diets.