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# Heart disease news: Prudent diet prevents heart disease, stroke
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/prudent_diet_prevents_heart_disease_stroke_1212120624/
- Published: 2012-12-12T19:23:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:44:45.000Z
- Description: Among 40,011 Dutch adults followed 13 years, the top quartile for a prudent diet of fish, high-fibre foods, raw vegetables and wine had 13 percent less coronary heart disease and 22 percent less stroke than the lowest quartile. A Western diet pattern showed no link to either.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Diet, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, PHD

Wednesday Dec 12, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Eating prudent diet including fish, high fiber foods, raw vegetables and wine may help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, according to a study in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases.

M.D. Strickera at Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht in Utrecht, The Netherlands and colleagues conducted the study and found men and women in the highest quartile of intake of prudent dietary components were 13 and 22 percent less likely to experience coronary heart disease and stroke, respectively, compared with those in the lowest quartile.

The Western diet including dietary components such as French fries, fast food, low fiber products, alcoholic beverages, and sugar-sweetened soft drinks was not associated with risk of heart disease and stroke, which is strange.

However, when the prudent diet was compared to the Western diet, the prudent diet followers were 9 percent less likely to develop coronary heart disease and 21 percent less likely to suffer stroke.

For the study, researchers used statistical methods like principal component analysis (PCA) and k-means cluster analysis (KCA) to analyze data from 40,011 men and women in the EPIC-NL cohort and identify dietary patterns that were associated with risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Dietary information was obtained at baseline and all subjects were followed for 13 years during which 1843 coronary heart disease cases and 588 stroke cases were identified.

Both statistical analysis methods led to the finding of the prudent diet and Western diet.

The researchers concluded "PCA and KCA found similar underlying patterns with comparable associations with CHD and stroke risk. A prudent pattern reduced the risk of CHD and stroke."

In the same scientific journal, P. Guallar-Castillóna from Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Madrid. Spain and colleagues reported that eating a Mediterranean diet was associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease.

For this study, researchers analyzed data from 40,757 men and women aged 29–69 years in the Spanish cohort of the EPIC study to examine whether using Mediterranean diet could reduce risk of coronary heart disease events including fatal and non-fatal acute myocardial infarction or angina that needed revascularization. All men and women were followed up for 11 years during which 606 coronary heart disease events were identified.

The researchers also identified two dietary patterns, Westernized pattern and the evolved Mediterranean pattern using a statistical analysis method called factor analysis. 

Again just like Strickera et al, Guallar-Castillóna et al. found the Westernized patter was not associated with coronary heart disease risk.

However, those having a high score for the evolved Mediterranean pattern were significantly (27%) less likely to develop coronary heart disease compared with those having a low score.

The researchers concluded "A Mediterranean diet, as consumed in this study population, was associated with a lower risk of CHD."