Coronary heart disease - Rod Jackson

Rod Jackson talks about “where have all the heart attacks gone”. Rod is a professor of epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland.

Topics

Current coronary heart disease trends in New Zealand
Contributing factors for trends (coronary death rates down but obesity levels up)
Confusion around fads, such as 'high fat, low carbs is good'
Risk factors for coronary heart disease
Why the main driver for lower death rate trend is diet.

Take home messages

Death rates from heart disease have plumeted by 90% since 1967.
The major determinant in the drop in heart disease in NZ since 1976 is the reduction in consumption of saturated fats (butter, fatty meat).
Simple diet messages that addresses obesity AND heart health: There are good and bad fats. Replace the bad (saturated) with the good (mono and poly-unsaturated).
There are good and bad carbs.
Replace the bad (sugars through processed juice etc,) with the good (actual fruit and veges).