Reduce your cardiovascular risk with the right fat.

Common opinion goes like this: fat creates heart disease. New research is questioning that assumption and proving the opposite, that fat can be heart protective. The research reviewed is one of these studies.

7447 participants were assigned to one of three diets:

1. A Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil
2. A Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts
3. A control diet where the participants were advised to reduce fat intake (Estruch R,et al. 2013).

The results showed that the Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts reduced the incidence of major cardiovascular events.
Good sources of healthy fat are avocados, nuts, seeds and olive oil. Fish like wild salmon is a good source of omega 3 fat which is also very important.

The Learn to Eat program explains how to create healthy meals that are even more effective than the standard Mediterranean diet.

Estruch R, Ros E, Salas-Salvadó J, Covas MI, Corella D, Arós F, Gómez-Gracia E, Ruiz-Gutiérrez V, Fiol M, Lapetra J, Lamuela-Raventos RM, Serra-Majem L, Pintó X, Basora J, Muñoz MA, Sorlí JV, Martínez JA, Martínez-González MA. Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet. N Engl J Med. 2013 Apr 4;368(14):1279-90. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1200303. Epub 2013 Feb 25.