The typical western diet of red meat, fried foods, dairy products and salty snacks is responsible for 30 percent of the world's heart attacks, Canadian scientists have found.

After analyzing data from the dietary patterns of 16,000 people in 52 countries. scientists at Hamilton's McMaster University found the best diet is one that includes eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, which is linked to a 30 percent decrease in heart attack risk.

The diet is more effective at lowering heart attack risk than many drugs currently on the market, study author Dr. Salim Yusef told reporters Monday.

"What we've shown is if you eat a healthy diet you can actually reduce the risk of heart attack by about 30 to 40 percent. That is bigger than most drugs we have for protecting against heart disease, " Yusef said.

"It's even bigger than an angioplasty or bypass."

The healthy diet was more effective than the traditional oriental diet that consists of tofu and soy, which the authors found to have no effect on heart attack risk.

In contrast, the Western diet was found to boost heart attack risk by 35 percent.

Yusef said that this pattern of a good diet or a bad diet had the same effect in different parts of the world, so whichever parts of the world people are from, they are encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables and less salty and fatty foods.

The findings are particularly important now that the western diet has become more popular in other regions of the world, Yusef said.

The findings are published in the journal Circulation.

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2008)