Just by making tiny changes to their eating habits, thousands of people a year could avoid an early death, according to new research.
The study, which looked at British diets, concluded that 20,000 lives could be saved every year in the UK by making minor diet changes. Small changes such as cutting out just one gram of salt a day, eating one extra piece of fruit or veg and getting 1 percent less energy a day from saturated or trans fats could make a huge difference, the UK’sDaily Telegraphreported.
The team of scientists from institutions including Oxford and Liverpool universities, who studied death rates among 25- to 84-year-olds, concluded that with these small changes, 19,445 less people would die a year in Britain from heart disease and strokes.
The researchers, who released their finding at a conference in San Francisco this week, also noted that half of the deaths would result from a reduction of trans fat consumption.
Fact sheet: trans fats demystified
Tips: eating for a healthy heart
Roughly 270,000 people suffer a heart attack in Britain every year, with the country having some of the highest death rates in the world for heart attack victims.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported there were 47,730 incidents of heart attacks and angina in 2005 (around half the British figure as a proportion of population) and said that 637,900 Australians (around 3 percent) suffered from coronary heart disease.
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