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Doctors For Nutrition were pleased to see that new nutritional guidance from The Heart Foundation promotes eating more plant foods including fruit, vegetables and wholegrains. They also encourage reducing processed meat and highly processed junk foods.

However, in failing to promote a whole food plant-based diet, the guidelines missed an opportunity to reduce rates of heart disease and save thousands of Australian lives.

The move to endorse unflavoured full-fat milk, yogurt and cheese, and lift the limit on the number of eggs that can be eaten per week, will put our communities at greater risk of disease and death. Full fat dairy products and eggs are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. Evidence shows that as dietary saturated fat and cholesterol increases, so does our risk of heart disease.

The Heart Foundation have themselves acknowledged, “research tells us that a plant-based diet can be beneficial in lowering bad LDL cholesterol, it can help people maintain a healthy weight and blood pressure and can reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease and many other health problems.” Research by doctors Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn also demonstrates that a whole food plant-based diet can reverse advanced heart disease.