300 Calories Less Per Day Can Help Ward Off Heart Disease

Researchers at LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center have announced results of a study that could help reduce Louisiana residents likelihood of getting heart disease by as much as 50%. The study looked at caloric intake and how that relates to heart disease and the difference could come down to something as simple as dessert.

Researchers concluded that decreasing your daily caloric intake by as few as 300 calories could greatly improve your cardiovascular health. The study looked at participants who were at a healthy and normal weight. The plan was to reduce the daily caloric intake from 2,470 to 2,170.

You're probably asking, exactly what do 300 calories look like? An average soft drink, non-diet, has about 140 calories. So, by just swearing off two of those per day would just about fill the bill. But you could cut calories by reducing the number of condiments you use, opting out of dessert, or not grazing on chips while you're watching television.

According to the USDA, the average recommended caloric intake for an adult female aged 19 to 50 is from 2,000 to 2,400. For men in that same age range, the caloric intake is suggested to be 2,200 to 2,400.

The Pennington study suggested that even people who consider themselves healthy can benefit from this slight reduction in calories.