It's not about counting fats or carbohydrates: the key to taking care of your heart is in the quality of your food.

Recent research suggests that instead of obsessing over counting fats, proteins, and carbohydrates , it's better to focus on whole, plant-based, and minimally processed foods while limiting refined grains, added sugars, and animal products, thereby significantly reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.

“Healthy versions of these diets—rich in plant-based foods and whole grains—were associated with better heart health outcomes and improved metabolic function. In contrast, low-carb, low-fat diets with an emphasis on unhealthy foods were associated with an increased risk of heart disease,” explains Zhiyuan Wu, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Qi Sun’s lab and co-author of the paper, which was presented at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual meeting ( Nutrition 2025 ).

For decades, nutrition experts have championed low-carb, low-fat diets as strategies to boost health, manage weight, and prevent chronic conditions, especially heart disease. To challenge these strategies, researchers tracked participants' eating habits and heart disease outcomes for 25 years. Using detailed food frequency questionnaires, the team assigned scores based on the healthiness of foods consumed on low-carb, low-fat diets.

Over the course of 25 years, researchers closely monitored the volunteers' diets and incidence of heart disease. They analyzed data from three large groups: 43,430 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986–2016), 64,164 women from the Nurses' Health Study (1986–2018), and 92,189 women from the Nurses' Health Study II (1991–2019). Using extensive questionnaires about the frequency of consumption of various foods, the team gave each diet a score based on the healthiness of its components in low-fat and low-carb diets.

Results

In a large-scale study involving more than 10,000 volunteers from the original sample, scientists took a decisive step : they analyzed hundreds of metabolites in the blood to unravel how dietary quality influences metabolic balance.

And the results were truly illuminating: Participants who followed healthy diets low in carbohydrates or fat had a lower risk of coronary heart disease (what's more, choosing high-quality foods reduced the risk of heart disease by approximately 15%). And those who followed an unhealthy diet increased their risk.

This suggests that simply reducing carbohydrates or fats without considering the source and quality of these macronutrients may be counterproductive and may lead to an increased risk of heart disease.

So, how should we proceed? For those looking for healthier options, the advice is simple: add more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes to your meals.

By reducing our consumption of processed meats, refined carbohydrates, and sugary snacks , we can significantly reduce our risk of coronary heart disease. To make things easier, creating a shopping list focused on whole foods can reduce impulse purchases of processed sweets when we're at the supermarket .