Nutritionist warns disease could start changing your body years before you notice

Zoe's head nutritionist Dr Federica Amati shared advice to help people make healthy changes with longterm benefits

A nutritionist has issued a warning about a disease that could start changing your body years before you even notice. Dr Federica Amati, head nutritionist at Zoe, said while you "won't feel anything, in your 20s and 30s" changes associated with cardiovascular disease "appear in your blood vessels."

The doctor explained: "Ensuring you eat a diet full of polyphenols, fibre, and high-quality plant-based protein, whilst limiting ultra-processed food intake, is essential for overall health." Unfortunately, unhealthy diets remain common, with cardiovascular diseases recognised by the World Health Organisation as the leading cause of death globally.

As the WHO sets out, ''the most important behavioural risk factors of heart disease and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol", and cardiovascular disease can start affecting your body from a young age, Dr Amati has warned.

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She told the Mirror: "Although you won't feel anything, in your 20s and 30s, changes associated with cardiovascular disease appear in your blood vessels. Around 30, some people will start to have elevated cholesterol levels and they'll start to see signs that their diet is not serving their body well, that it's not doing a good job of maintaining everything as it should be. At this point, we really need to think about what we need to do to maintain health for the long term."

Poor diet could also be contributing to a rise in rates of colon cancer, according to the expert. Dr Amati said: "One growing concern in younger people is colon cancer. From 1990–2018 there was a 22% rise in colon cancer cases in people aged 25–49. We don't know the precise causes yet but diet likely plays a large role, particularly a lack of fibre and increased consumption of ultra-processed food."

Issuing advice, the nutritionist added: “Making sure you eat a variety of plants, including nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables, and legumes will help you reach the 30-gram recommended daily amount of fibre and significantly improve your bowel health."

Previously, Dr Amati advised people to 'eat the rainbow' to enjoy a diet full of polyphenols. "Colourful fruits and veg contain plant compounds called polyphenols. These help protect your blood vessels against damage as you age. Importantly, they also help feed your gut bacteria – and if your gut microbiome is happy, you're more likely to enjoy good long-term health," she told the Express.

She also recommended focusing on quality protein in your diet. "Most of us know that we need protein and that meat is a good source," the expert acknowledged. "This is certainly true, but plant-based proteins are just as good as animal proteins, and when you consume them as part of the whole plant, you also get other nutrients that benefit health, like fibre."