
A doctor checking a patient's blood pressure in his practice room at the Temple Fortune Health Centre GP Practice near Golders Green, London
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Experts now suggest vegans could be missing out on key foods for a healthy diet
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Six foods have been identified as “key” to avoiding heart disease.
Researchers dealt a hammer blow to vegans by listing cheese and fish as among the essential foods needed to have a healthy diet.
Nuts, legumes and vegetables were also listed following a major analysis involving nearly 250,000 people.
Red meat was cited as important to making up a healthy diet provided it was consumed in “moderation”.
General view of meat in Jago Butchers in Chelsea, London
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There have previously been concerns that red meat could be linked to cancer and heart troubles.
An optimum healthy diet, described as PURE, included three to four weekly servings of legumes, seven portions of nuts, two to three servings of fish and 14 helpings of full-fat dairy.
The study was coordinated by the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada.
The study's lead author Dr Andrew Mente said: “Low-fat foods have taken center stage with the public, food industry and policymakers, with nutrition labels focused on reducing fat and saturated fat.
Shoppers in the fruit and vegetables section of a branch of Sainsbury's in south London.
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“Our findings suggest that the priority should be increasing protective foods such as nuts, often avoided as too energy dense, fish and dairy, rather than restricting dairy, especially whole-fat, to very low amounts.
“Our results show that up to two servings a day of dairy, mainly whole-fat, can be included in a healthy diet.”
He added: “This is in keeping with modern nutrition science showing that dairy, particularly whole-fat, may protect against high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome.”
A healthy diet score of between zero and six was assigned to participants of the study.
Cheeses in the washed rind class are left after tasting and judging during the British Cheese Awards
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A score of five or greater than five was deemed to have a lower risk of mortality.
Those with the healthiest diet score of five or more were 30 percent less likely to die during the study period than peers who only managed one or less.
They were also 19, 18 and 14 percent less likely to suffer a stroke, develop cardiovascular disease or have a heart attack.
Dr Mente concluded: “This was by far the most diverse study of nutrition and health outcomes in the world and the only one with sufficient representation from high, middle and low-income countries.
“The connection between the PURE diet and health outcomes was found in generally healthy people, patients with CVD, patients with diabetes, and across economies.”