Plant-Based Diet: A Potential Intervention for Heart Failure

Abstract

Heart failure is a disease that increases the likelihood of morbidity and mortality with an increased direct and indirect cost to the healthcare system. The role of diet in the development, progression and treatment of heart failure is being studied with growing interest. The objective of this study is to assess the relationship between heart failure and selected heart failure risk factors: hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and plant-based diets as a clinical intervention. The search yielded 416 published articles, among them are three studies that used a plant-based diet as an intervention for heart failure. All interventional studies showed that plant-based diets have a positive impact on heart failure in terms of improved ejection fraction and positive cardiac muscle remodelling.