What You Eat — and How Much You Move — May Determine Your Risk of Artery Disease, New Study Finds
Article by Dr. Amin Sharifi | a.sharifi1983@gmail.com | Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
Published in The Open Cardiovascular Medicine Journal, Volume 20, March 06 2026
Fatty, Inflammation-Promoting Diets Closely Linked to Atherosclerosis
A new study published in The Open Cardiovascular Medicine Journal has found that people newly diagnosed with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease — a condition in which arteries narrow and harden due to chronic low-grade inflammation — ate significantly more fat and followed more inflammation-promoting dietary patterns than their healthy counterparts. Researchers from Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in Iran compared the diets and activity levels of 103 newly diagnosed atherosclerosis patients against 103 healthy individuals matched for age and sex. They found that patients consumed higher amounts of total fat, saturated fat, and unsaturated fats alike, while the healthy group ate more carbohydrates and dietary fiber. Notably, every single unit rise in the Dietary Inflammatory Index — a scientifically validated score that measures how much a person's diet promotes inflammation in the body — was associated with a 16.8% higher likelihood of developing the disease. The study was funded by Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (Grant Number 40376).
Staying Active Cuts Atherosclerosis Risk in Half — But Only When the Diet Is Also Kept in Check
The study also examined how physical activity plays into this picture, and the results were striking: people who exercised or walked regularly at least once a week were 50.2% less likely to develop atherosclerosis compared with those who were sedentary. However, the researchers uncovered an important caveat — this protective effect of exercise only held in people whose diets were on the less inflammatory end of the scale. Among those with highly inflammatory diets, being physically active did not offer the same shield against the disease. This suggests that exercise and diet do not work as simple substitutes for each other; rather, meaningful risk reduction appears to require both a less inflammatory diet and regular physical movement working together.
The Takeaway: Eat Less Fat, Eat More Fiber, and Keep Moving
The findings point to a clear message for both patients and clinicians: dietary choices are not a secondary concern in cardiovascular health — they sit at the very center of it. Higher fiber and carbohydrate consumption were associated with lower atherosclerosis risk, consistent with the well-established benefits of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Fat intake, regardless of whether it came from saturated or unsaturated sources, was consistently higher in the patient group, suggesting that the overall quantity of dietary fat matters alongside its type. The authors, led by corresponding author Dr. Amin Sharifi of the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene and the Nutrition Health Research Center, Institute of Health Sciences and Technology, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran, call for larger studies across diverse populations to build on these findings. The full article is freely available in The Open Cardiovascular Medicine Journal (DOI: 10.2174/0118741924429568251207195544).
Read the published article here: https://bit.ly/4tGTwXK
JOURNAL
The Open Cardiovascular Medicine Journal
DOI: 10.2174/0118741924429568251207195544
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The Open Cardiovascular Medicine Journal