This article was one of Herald Lifestyle’s best-read stories of 2024. Two years ago, the British Heart Foundation declared the country was in “the grip of the worst heart care crisis in living memory” as 39,000 people in England died prematurely of cardiovascular conditions in 2022. Widening health inequalities, the pandemic and long-standing pressure on the NHS all play a part in Britain’s worsening heart health.
One thing within people’s control is what they eat and how that protects or harms their heart. “ Heart disease and stroke are still the biggest killers in the western world despite medical advances,” says Dr Neil Srinivasan, a consultant cardiologist specialising in general cardiology and the management of heart rhythm problems. “ Obesity , diabetes and a sedentary lifestyle lead to raised cholesterol , high blood pressure and insulin resistance – these are the vast problems in modern life.
” At the centre of all of this, says Dr Srinivasan, who also runs UK Heart Clinic, is “our ready access to food that has gone through a large degree of processing”. Here are the food items that don’t make his shopping basket. Breakfast cereals.
