Middle-age men who follow high protein diets may be at higher risk of heart failure, according to research conducted on nearly 2,500 men ages 42 to 60 who ate the most animal protein and dairy.

Scientists who conducted the study published in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal, followed their subjects for an average period of 22 years.

Over the course of the study, they found 334 cases of heart failure, which happens when the body is unable to pump enough blood and oxygen into the body. The researchers then divided the participants into four groups based on the types of protein they consumed. They found that the men who ate the most animal protein and dairy were at higher risk of developing heart failure than those who ate the least.

But not all high-protein diets are bad. Interestingly, the men who ate a plant-based protein diet had only a 17 percent risk of developing heart failure.

Researchers also found that people who ate proteins from fish and eggs did not have the same associated risk of heart failure as the animal protein eaters.