A typical Western diet – full of fried food and animal fat – may be responsible for more than one-third of heart attacks worldwide, according to new research.

Scientists at McMaster University in Canada found a link between a poor diet and heart attack, as well as a reduced risk among those who ate larger amounts of fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Salim Yusuf and colleagues surveyed more than 16,000 people to arrive at their conclusions, asking detailed questions about their diet. Some 5,700 of these participants had suffered a heart attack.

The findings, published in the journal Circulation, divided the subjects into three categories: those who ate a Western diet with animal fat and fried foods, people who followed an Oriental diet with soy protein and “prudent” eaters who consumed a lot of vegetables and fruit.

People who at a Western diet had the largest risk of heart attack, 35 percent higher than prudent eaters, according to the study.

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