Browse the evidence

Replacing saturated fatty acids (SFA) with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) or monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) results in the greatest reduction in LDL cholesterol and apoB, whereas replacing SFA with carbohydrates yields only modest apoB lowering.

To lower your LDL cholesterol, replace saturated fats (found in red meat, full-fat dairy, and tropical oils) with unsaturated fats. Prioritize polyunsaturated fats (found in fatty fish, walnuts, and vegetable oils) and monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil and avocados). Avoid replacing these fats with refined carbohydrates like white bread or sugar, as this is less effective for lowering cholesterol.

A healthy diet promoting optimal growth and preventing malnutrition requires shifting away from many animal foods toward plant foods, limiting free sugars to <10% of energy (ideally <5%), limiting saturated fats to <10% and trans fats to <1%, and restricting sodium to <2g/day (5g salt).

To eat a healthy diet, prioritize plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Limit free sugars to less than 10% of your daily calories (ideally under 5%), keep saturated fats under 10%, and avoid trans fats entirely. Replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats found in fish, nuts, and plant oils. Limit salt intake to less than 5 grams (one teaspoon) per day.

Low intake of whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and seafood omega-3 fatty acids, along with high intake of sodium, red meat, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fats, and sodium, are leading dietary risk factors for global disease burden (DALYs).

To reduce your risk of chronic disease, increase your intake of whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and seafood. Limit your consumption of sodium, red meat, processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fats. These changes are supported by global data showing their significant impact on disease burden.

The thermic effect of food (TEF) varies significantly by macronutrient composition, with protein eliciting a thermic effect at least three times higher than isocaloric carbohydrates, while fat elicits a much lower thermic effect.

Eating protein costs more energy to digest than carbs or fat. Prioritizing protein in your diet can slightly increase your daily energy expenditure through the thermic effect of food.

Switching from saturated and trans fats to unsaturated fats (MUFAs and PUFAs) in the diet causally reduces plasma LDL particle concentration, thereby reducing the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).

To lower your risk of heart disease, focus on swapping the types of fat you eat. Replace saturated fats (found in butter, fatty meats, full-fat dairy) and trans fats with unsaturated fats (found in olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish). This substitution lowers LDL cholesterol, which is a primary driver of heart disease. You don't need to eliminate fat; just choose higher-quality sources.

Trans fats are harmful and should be eliminated, while saturated fat's impact depends on the food matrix and what it replaces.

Eliminate trans fats completely. For saturated fats, focus on the food source (e.g., cheese, nuts) rather than just the fat content, and ensure you are replacing them with unsaturated fats, not refined carbs.

Carbohydrate-restricted diets (≤45% energy) significantly improve cardiovascular health by reducing triglycerides, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers, despite modest increases in LDL and total cholesterol.

Adopting a diet with less than 45% of calories from carbs improves heart health markers like blood pressure and triglycerides. Even if your LDL cholesterol rises slightly, your overall cardiovascular risk likely decreases because your triglycerides drop, inflammation goes down, and your cholesterol ratios improve. This is especially true if you replace carbs with a mix of fats and proteins.

Overall dietary patterns (e.g., Mediterranean, DASH) are more strongly associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality than focusing on single nutrients or foods.

Adopt a healthy dietary pattern like the Mediterranean or DASH diet, which emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats, rather than trying to eliminate specific nutrients like fat or sodium in isolation.

A low-carbohydrate diet produces significantly greater improvements in HDL cholesterol levels compared to a low-fat diet, even when weight loss is equivalent.

If you choose a low-carbohydrate diet, you can expect a significant boost in HDL (good) cholesterol, which is a positive marker for heart health. This benefit persists even if your weight loss is similar to what you'd get from a low-fat diet. Monitor your lipids, but don't let fear of dietary fat prevent you from trying a low-carb approach if it suits your lifestyle.

Hypocaloric diets cause greater total body weight loss than exercise training, but this weight loss includes skeletal muscle mass reduction, whereas exercise may increase lean body mass.

If you want to lose total pounds quickly, a calorie-restricted diet will be more effective than exercise alone. However, be aware that diet-induced weight loss often includes muscle loss, while exercise can help preserve or even build muscle. For long-term metabolic health, preserving muscle via exercise while managing calories is often a better strategy than rapid weight loss from dieting alone.

Adherence to a low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) results in significantly greater reductions in body mass index (BMI), total body weight, and body fat percentage compared to a low-fat diet (LFD).

If you are trying to lose weight, a low-carbohydrate diet (30-130g carbs/day) is likely to produce slightly better results in BMI, total weight, and body fat percentage than a low-fat diet. This holds true across various populations, including those with type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Note that the absolute difference in fat mass (kg) and waist circumference was not significantly different between the two diets in the overall analysis.

Consuming fructose-sweetened beverages (providing 25% of energy requirements) for 10 weeks increases visceral adiposity, hepatic de novo lipogenesis, and dyslipidemia, and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese adults, whereas glucose-sweetened beverages do not produce these specific adverse metabolic effects despite similar total weight gain.

If you are overweight or obese, replacing glucose or sucrose with high-fructose beverages (like those sweetened with HFCS or pure fructose) at levels providing 25% of your daily energy can significantly increase belly fat and liver fat, even if your total weight stays the same. This happens because fructose is metabolized differently, driving fat production in the liver. To protect your metabolic health, limit fructose-sweetened beverages, as they pose a specific risk for visceral fat and insulin resistance that glucose does not.

Substituting nonhydrogenated unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) for saturated and trans-fats significantly reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, whereas simply lowering total fat percentage without regard to fat quality does not improve lipid profiles or reduce CHD incidence.

To protect your heart, stop focusing on cutting total fat. Instead, swap out saturated fats (found in red meat, butter) and trans-fats (found in some processed foods) for unsaturated fats (found in olive oil, nuts, fish). This specific substitution, rather than just eating 'low fat', is what actually lowers your risk of heart disease.

High intake of trans-fatty acids significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease and cardiac arrest, independent of saturated fat intake, by raising LDL-C, lowering HDL-C, and promoting insulin resistance.

Avoid foods with 'partially hydrogenated oils' on the ingredient list. These trans-fats are twice as harmful to your cholesterol levels as saturated fats. Replace them with natural oils like olive or canola oil.

A dietary pattern high in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains, and low in refined grains, significantly reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.

Build your meals around fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains. Limit refined grains like white bread and pasta. This pattern, combined with exercise and not smoking, can prevent most heart disease.

Replacing dietary saturated fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oils significantly reduces cardiovascular disease incidence by approximately 30%, an effect comparable to statin treatment.

To lower your risk of heart disease, swap foods high in saturated fats (like butter, lard, and fatty meats) for foods high in polyunsaturated fats (like corn, soybean, and safflower oils). Do not replace these fats with refined carbs or sugars, as that offers no heart benefit. This change should be part of an overall healthy diet like the Mediterranean diet.

Orlistat treatment improves obesity-related cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors, including lowering LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and fasting insulin levels, independent of the magnitude of weight loss.

Orlistat not only helps you lose weight but also independently improves your cholesterol levels (LDL and total) and insulin sensitivity. This benefit persists even when accounting for the amount of weight lost, suggesting a direct pharmacologic effect on lipid metabolism due to reduced fat absorption.

Adopting energy-balanced, predominantly plant-based dietary patterns (flexitarian, pescatarian, vegetarian, or vegan) significantly reduces premature mortality by 19-22% and greenhouse gas emissions by 54-87% compared to current global diets.

To improve your health and reduce your environmental footprint, shift your diet towards being predominantly plant-based while maintaining energy balance. Focus on increasing intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts. If you eat meat, choose fish or poultry in moderation, and avoid processed meats. This approach is adaptable to your local food culture and has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of premature death from chronic diseases.

For healthy, exercising individuals, an overall daily protein intake of 1.4–2.0 g/kg body weight per day is sufficient to build and maintain muscle mass, with higher intakes (2.3–3.1 g/kg/d) only necessary during hypocaloric periods to maximize lean body mass retention.

Aim for 1.4 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day if you are training. If you are cutting calories to lose fat, bump this up to 2.3–3.1 grams per kilogram to protect your muscle. You do not need to exceed these amounts for muscle growth in a caloric surplus.

Low consumption of whole grains is a convincing risk factor for increased Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) incidence.

Increasing your intake of whole grains is a highly effective strategy to reduce your risk of Type 2 Diabetes. The evidence is very strong: people who eat more whole grains have a significantly lower risk of developing the disease. Prioritize whole grains over refined grains.

High consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is a convincing risk factor for increased Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) incidence.

Reducing your intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is a highly effective strategy to reduce your risk of Type 2 Diabetes. The evidence is very strong: people who drink more sugar-sweetened beverages have a significantly higher risk of developing the disease. Consider replacing these with water or unsweetened beverages.

Low adherence to a healthy dietary pattern is a convincing risk factor for increased Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) incidence.

Adhering to a healthy dietary pattern is a highly effective strategy to reduce your risk of Type 2 Diabetes. The evidence is very strong: people who follow a healthy dietary pattern have a significantly lower risk of developing the disease. Focus on whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and limit processed foods.

Adherence to the DASH diet significantly reduces systolic blood pressure (mean -5.2 mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (-2.6 mmHg), total cholesterol (-0.20 mmol/l), and LDL cholesterol (-0.10 mmol/l) in adults, leading to an estimated 13% reduction in 10-year cardiovascular disease risk.

To lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, adopt the DASH diet pattern: eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy, while reducing red meat, sweets, and saturated fats. This dietary shift significantly improves cardiovascular risk markers, especially if you have high baseline blood pressure or BMI. You do not need to strictly restrict sodium for the diet to work, nor do you expect changes in triglycerides or HDL.

Adherence to a Mediterranean diet enriched with extra-virgin olive oil or mixed nuts reduces the risk of major cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke) compared to a low-fat control diet in high-risk individuals.

To lower your cardiovascular risk, adopt a Mediterranean dietary pattern. If you are at high risk (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol), incorporate extra-virgin olive oil as your main cooking fat (aim for about 1 liter per week if following the study protocol) and eat a small handful of mixed nuts (about 30 grams) daily. Focus on getting these foods through education and support rather than just willpower, and do not fear the fat content, as unsaturated fats from these sources are cardioprotective.