Population Health Research Institute
McMaster University
The PURE (Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology) study is a groundbreaking global research project that tracked the dietary habits and health outcomes of over 140,000 people across 25 countries. It challenged traditional dietary guidelines by emphasizing that a healthy diet is characterized by a high intake of "protective" foods—such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fish, whole-fat dairy, and meats—rather than just the avoidance of fats or cholesterol. The resulting PURE Healthy Diet Score provides a science-based framework for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality worldwide. Additionally, contrary to traditional advice, higher intake of total fat and various types of fats (including saturated and unsaturated) is associated with a lower risk of mortality. The study found no significant association between fats and major CVD events. By contrast, high carbohydrate intake (greater than 55% of energy) is associated with a higher risk of mortality. Refined grains, rather than fruits and vegetables, are identified as the primary source of these carbohydrates. A key message is that current global advice to strictly limit total fat to less than 30% and saturated fat to less than 10% is not supported by these findings. This session highlights how this diversity-focused approach is applicable across various income levels and geographic regions.
Dr. Mente is currently a Professor of Epidemiology and scientist at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Mente has studied the role of dietary nutrients, foods and patterns in cardiovascular diseases. He investigated the role of fats and carbohydrates in cardiovascular disease in 135,000 participants in 21 countries in Africa, North America, Europe, South America and Asia in the PURE cohort. This work has challenged long-standing wisdom on diet and health. Among the key findings, the work from PURE showed that increased consumption of fats (saturated and unsaturated) and dairy foods (especially whole fat dairy) and red meat are associated with lower risk of death. In the context of today’s diets, this would suggest that there is little need to lower fat intake and whole fat dairy and red meats in most populations. In recent years, Dr. Mente and his team developed a healthy diet score that is associated with health outcomes and is globally applicable using data from PURE and replicated it in five independent studies on a total of 245,000 people from 80 countries. This is the largest and most diverse study ever on diet and health outcomes.