Experts say removing one food from diet could lower cholesterol and heart disease risk

Leading health experts have suggested that removing one food from your diet could see a serious improvement to your health and could even play a part in lowering the risk of developing heart disease.

Making an appearance on Netflix's What the Health documentary, medical expert and author, Dr Caldwell Esselstyn put forward his argument for eating almost an exclusively plant-based diet.

In a study produced by the physician, he set out, through the tracking of his patients, that those that had cardiovascular disease, 99.4 per cent were able to prevent major cardiac events by adopting a plant-based diet.

And, the expert also highlighted some of the other conditions that can be helped by the diet change: "It's not just heart disease, it's hypertension, it's diabetes, it's strokes, it's heart attacks, it's several of the autoimmune diseases, lupus, asthma, GERD, osteoporosis. I mean there's a multitude of diseases (it can help prevent)."

READ MORE: Clear congestion and improve immune health with easy bathroom trick loved by expert

READ MORE: Eating traditional Christmas veg will protect your hearing, experts say

Another doctor also backed up the link between plant-based diets and reduction in heart disease, as Dr Joel Kahn, author of 'The Whole Heart Solution' said: "The data is crystal clear, that you can stop and reverse heart disease with plant-based diets, scientifically shown, I've seen it in my own patients."

But, while some focussed on the impact that the diet change can have on your heart-health, others have also emphasised the role it plays in lowering cholesterol levels. Harvard Health Publishing noted that a plant focused diet as well as eating less meat (and leaner cuts) can decrease your cholesterol levels by 25 per cent.

While several scientists have backed up the positives of adopting a plant-based diet, there are some clear drawbacks.

Many would argue that due to the far superior protein value in some sources of meat compared to fruit and vegetables, it would be wrong to cut meat out of our diets to the extent some have suggested.

In their recommendations for the inclusion of meat in your diet, the NHS said: "A healthy balanced diet can include protein from meat, as well as from fish and eggs or non-animal sources such as beans and pulses. Meats such as chicken, pork, lamb and beef are all rich in protein.

Red meat provides us with iron, zinc and B vitamins. Meat is one of the main sources of vitamin B12 in the diet."

If you have medical concerns about heart disease, we recommend consulting with a doctor. The NHS said that the most common symptoms of coronary heart disease (CHD) are chest pain (angina) and breathlessness.

For more information, visit the NHS website.