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High-Fiber Diet Reduces Risk of Hardened Arteries

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on June 27, 2025.

FRIDAY, June 27, 2025 — Noshing on veggies, grains, beans and other high-fiber foods can help your heart as well as your gut health, a new study says.

People with low-fiber diets are more likely to have narrowed arteries caused by the buildup of plaque, researchers reported recently in the journal Cardiovascular Research.

CT scans also revealed that people’s diets influence their risk for unstable, high-risk arterial plaques that increase their risk of heart attack and stroke, researchers said.

“When we matched people’s coronary artery images with their dietary patterns, we could not only see that there is an association between dietary pattern and the presence of plaque in the coronary arteries, but also that the composition of the plaques, how dangerous they can be, is related to diet,” senior researcher Isabel Gonçalves, a professor of cardiology at Lund University in Sweden, said in a news release.

Cholesterol and fats contribute to the formation of these plaques, in a process called atherosclerosis, according to the American Heart Association.

These plaques cause arteries to narrow, reducing blood flow. Unstable plaques can also burst, potentially blocking the artery and causing a heart attack or stroke.

For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 24,000 people 50 to 64 who took part in a Swedish heart health study. They were recruited between 2013 and 2018; at the time, all had no heart health problems.

Comparing CT scans to diet questionnaires, researchers found that 44% of those with the least healthy diet had experienced some development of arterial plaques, compared with 36% of those with the healthiest diets.

Health-threatening plaque problems — arteries narrowed 50% or more by plaques, or the development of unstable plaques more likely to burst — were 60% more common among those with the worst diets, researchers found.

“Our results suggest that an unhealthy, low-fiber diet may contribute to changes in the body and metabolism which in turn may lead to unfavorable plaque characteristics,” Goncalves said.

While fiber plays a large part in a healthy diet, other factors also should be considered when eating to boost heart health, researchers added.

“There is no single foodstuff that determines health, but rather the overall dietary pattern,” lead researcher Ingrid Larsson, a nutritionist and associate professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said in a news release.

“A diet with more vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fiber-rich foods, nuts, low-fat dairy, [canola] and olive oil and less red meat, processed meats, crisps and similar snacks, and sugary drinks was linked to fewer high-risk plaques,” Larsson said.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted June 2025

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