Mediterranean diet may cut health risk

Following this diet can override the genetic risk of heart disease and reduce the risk of heart attack.

You can eat yourself away from a bad heart.

New research has shown that a Mediterranean diet can override the genetic risk of heart disease and reduce the risk of heart attack.

Deakin University researchers, who have shown for the first time diet can trump genetics in relation to cardiac health, say the findings should empower adults to take control of their own wellbeing and abandon restrictive diets.

The study of 77,000 adults aged 40-69 years compared their diet quality and genetic risk for cardiovascular disease and heart attack to their heart health over eight years.

Given heart disease risk is influenced by many genes, the research used a set of 300 ­genetic markers linked to ­coronary artery disease to assign each adult a genetic risk score.

Lead researcher Katherine Livingstone, a senior research fellow from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, said while it was known healthy eating was good for overall health, until now the link between diet and inherited susceptibility to heart disease had been less clear.

“Diet can trump genetics. We showed that people at higher genetic risk, when they did follow a Mediterranean diet it did lower their risk much more than people who didn’t have these risk variants,” Dr Livingstone said.

The Mediterranean diet relies heavily on fruit and vegetables, legumes, seafood and wholegrains. Picture: David Caird

“Eating a healthy diet can help significantly to reduce your genetic risk of heart disease and heart attack.

“Chronic heart disease is the leading cause of disease burden and death here in Australia, but diet is the number one risk factor we can influence.”

The effects were found even after accounting for other factors of a person’s health, such as physical activity levels, smoking status, age and family history of disease.

The Mediterranean diet relies heavily on fruit and vegetables, legumes, seafood and wholegrains.

Dairy, eggs and chicken should be eaten in moderation, while added sugars and processed foods should be avoided.

“There are multiple mechanisms at play,” Dr Livingstone said.

“It could be the fibre, or the phytochemicals — the chemical compound produced by plants – or it could be the fact that they’re displacing other things in your diet so you aren’t eating as much sugar, salt or saturated fat.”

Dr Livingstone said the findings, published in the journal BMJ Open, added to the evidence that individually prescribed eating plans to improve health were the way forward.

“We’re not there yet, but the more we can understand how things like our genetics and other individual non-modifiable components interact with what we do in our everyday life, that will help us move towards a more personalised way of eating for what works for us,” she said.