A new Dutch study has found that a diet high in processed carbohydrate-rich foods may increase women’s risk of developing heart disease.

A diet high in rapidly-absorbed carbohydrates (high glycaemic index – GI) was found to go hand-in-hand with increased rates of cardiovascular disease, particularly among overweight women.

Researchers from the University Medical Centre Utrecht studied 16,000 women for nine years. The women were all aged between 49 and 70 years of age at the start of the study, and were all free of heart-disease. After nine years, 556 of the women had developed heart disease, and 243 had suffered strokes.

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