Breakfast: making this simple swap can help reduce the risk of a heart attack

Swapping one ingredient at breakfast could help reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. A study found that switching from animal to plant products, such as having 5 to 28 grams of nuts instead of an egg, may lower your risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease by a full 17%.

Scientists say more evidence is needed to determine whether or not cholesterol found in eggs is bad for heart health, it's understood that nuts are effective when it comes to lowering cholesterol. These findings, which were published in the medical journal BMC Medicine, also found this swap could reduce the risk of diabetes by 18%, and reduce the odds of early death by 15%.

Dr Sabrina Schlesinger, a co-author of the review from the German Centre for Diabetes Research, told the Mail Online: "Many people start the day with an egg or fry-up for breakfast, but the results of this analysis suggest it might be better to replace these foods with plant-based foods. There is also evidence that people could benefit from replacing poultry with plant-based foods, although there was little evidence for replacing dairy."

The German Centre for Diabetes Research found those who replaced 50g of processed meat, approximately one sausage, with the same amount of legumes, lentils, and chickpeas, lowered their risk of developing or dying from heart disease by 23%. Those who chose to eat 28 to 50 grams of nuts rather than processed meat, managed to reduce their risk by 27%. According to the British Heart Foundation (BHS), 460 people each day from heart or circulatory disease, adding up to 48,000 per year.

As per the BHS website: "Nuts are a nutrient-rich food providing us with fibre, protein, vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients that could help reduce our risk of heart and circulatory diseases. Eating nuts and pulses as protein sources, rather than meat and dairy, has also been recommended as a way of eating that is more sustainable for our planet."