Advertisement

Eat Healthily For A Good Heart, Say Experts

Eat Healthily For A Good Heart, Say Experts

The benefits of taking medicine to combat obesity have been "exaggerated," according to scientists.

Instead, doctors are advised to promote the advantages of eating a healthy, Mediterranean-style diet and of stopping smoking.

The opinion piece published in the journal Open Heart warns that focussing on calorie counting was a misguided approach that could undermine the benefits of simple lifestyle interventions.

Dr Aseem Malhotra, from Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, James DiNicolantonio, from the Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas in the US, and Professor Simon Capewell, from the University of Liverpool, said research had shown many times over that lifestyle changes could improve one's health.

"The most powerful and effective policies include taxation on sugary drinks, and subsidies to increase the affordability and availability of healthier foods including nuts, vegetables and fruit, in addition to controls on the marketing of junk foods and clear package labelling," they write in the article.

"It is time to stop counting calories, and time to instead promote good nutrition and dietary changes that can rapidly and substantially reduce cardiovascular mortality."

Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said the article reminded people to focus on their whole diet.

"With around a quarter of adults in the UK already classed as obese and more than a third overweight, our energy intake does still need to be considered," she said.

"Without counting the calories in every mouthful, simple swaps like choosing fruit and vegetables rather than fatty and sugary snacks can enable us to reap the benefits to our waistlines."

But Dr Tim Chico, consultant cardiologist from the University of Sheffield, said: "I am a little concerned that this editorial presents a false choice between calorie counting and nutritional value, when it is possible to do both.

"However I agree the main focus should be on what, rather than how much, we eat, particularly when the aim is to reduce heart disease."