Maintaining a healthy heart

The issue

Many factors play a part in heart health. Some, such as age, sex and family health history can't be influenced. Others, known as modifiable risk factors, give us some control over our heart health, and these include diet, weight, smoking and exercise.

Keeping blood cholesterol low is important when maintaining heart health and your diet can play a key role. But anyone who's tried cutting back on food they enjoy knows how hard it can be. So finding ways for people to lower their cholesterol while enjoying a healthy diet is an important strategy in the campaign for maintaining heart health.

The response

The launch of Flora pro.activ globally has been a major development for people who want to lower their blood cholesterol levels.

Pro-active started as a low fat spread with added plant sterols – a naturally occurring cholesterol-lowering ingredient. Consuming between two and three grams of plant sterols per day is clinically proven to lower LDL cholesterol in many people by around 10%. pro-active starts to work within just two weeks and the full benefits can be seen within three.

A natural way to health

Sterols occur naturally in fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in the gut. However the amount contained in pro.activ is far higher than in fruit and vegetables: you'd need to eat 4kg of broccoli, 9kg of apples or 15kg of cabbage to consume the same amount you'd get from just 20 grams of the spread. 

With pro.activ now well-established, new products are being introduced to the range, including yogurts and a milk drink. The beauty of this approach is that people can benefit by consuming a food that's already part of their daily diet, which should also include plenty of fruit and vegetables.

Lifestyle matters

Promoting a heart healthy diet and lifestyle are a key part of the brand's communications. pro.activ sponsors relevant events around the world including the Flora London Marathon, Sydney Marathon and what's probably the most arduous 56 mile ultra-marathon - the Comrades Marathon in South Africa.

Meanwhile the Becel Institute promotes heart health awareness through a range of activities including producing leaflets about all modifiable risk factors - not just diet. These are distributed through doctors' surgeries, along with cholesterol diet sheets that doctors use when advising patients about healthy eating.

Partners in health

Our Heart Health team also works in partnership with National Heart Associations and the World Heart Federation (WHF), with whom we signed a partnership agreement in 2003, making Unilever the only food sponsor of World Heart Day. Through our work with the WHF we promote joint ventures between heart charities in individual countries and our local Unilever operating companies. 

One of the first big projects to mark the alliance was World Heart Day in September 2003, which was a focus for a series of events in more than 20 countries, particularly those with lower/middle incomes where there is the greatest need for health promotion.