The American Heart Association (AHA) has released an updated scientific statement: Dietary Guidance for Improving Cardiovascular Health. This update comes 15 years after the last edition of the AHA Health Guidelines.
It is well known that diet quality is closely related to physical health, especially with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and other chronic diseases.
The new dietary guidelines
emphasize the importance of the overall dietary pattern, rather than just emphasizing certain foods or nutrients. It also highlights the critical role of nutrients early in life and proposes elements of a heart-healthy dietary pattern.
The guide points out that no matter what stage of life we are in, we can benefit from a heart-healthy eating pattern. The new guidelines also take into account the dietary restrictions and taboos of different groups of people, as well as the impact of cultural, racial and religious backgrounds on dietary patterns, making this new guideline more practical guidance for more people.
“A heart-healthy diet also helps protect the environment.” This is the first time the AHA has mentioned sustainability in its dietary guidelines.
In general, dietary patterns refer to the balance, variety, quantity, and combination of foods and beverages consumed on a regular basis.
Based on current scientific evidence, the new guidelines summarize ten characteristics of a diet to prevent heart disease.
01Adjust energy intake and expenditure
to maintain a healthy weight
According to the AHA, maintaining a healthy weight is an important factor in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. But modern people tend to eat more and move less.
reported that people's energy needs vary greatly depending on personal factors such as age, activity level, gender and body shape. But typically during adulthood, energy needs decrease by 70-100 calories every decade. Therefore, it is important to maintain a balanced calorie intake through exercise to achieve a healthy weight.
02 Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables
The AHA reports that eating more fruits and vegetables can help reduce the risk of death. The more types of fruits and vegetables you eat, the better, which is conducive to the intake of comprehensive nutrients.
All forms of fruits and vegetables can be included in a heart-healthy diet and they provide needed nutrients. But cardiologists recommend brightly colored fruits and vegetables in particular, and recommend eating them whole and not juicing.
03 Choose whole grain foods
Eat less highly processed foods
The AHA report said that multiple studies have once again confirmed the benefits of whole grain foods (or whole grain foods ) rather than processed foods. Overall, they recommend choosing foods that contain at least 51% whole grains.
04 Choose healthy protein sources
According to AHA research, you should mainly choose protein from plant sources, such as beans and nuts. Among them, legume proteins include soybeans, beans, lentils, chickpeas and peas.
AHA also said in the statement that an added benefit of replacing animal foods with plant foods is that it also reduces the carbon footprint of food and is therefore kinder to the planet. But it also warned about " plant meat ", saying that they are currently ultra-processed foods and contain added salt, preservatives and stabilizers.
Therefore, it is recommended that people try: eating fish and shellfish regularly, low-fat dairy products instead of full-fat dairy products, and if you want to eat red meat or chicken, choose lean meats and avoid processed meats.
05 Choose liquid vegetable oils
The AHA emphasizes that people should avoid so-called tropical oils ( coconut oil , palm oil ), animal fats ( butter and lard) and some hydrogenated oils .
AHA recommends that people use soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil and sunflower oil, walnut oil and flaxseed oil.At the same time, there are also canola oil , olive oil, peanut oil and most nut oils , etc.
06 Choose lightly processed foods
Avoid ultra-processed foods
The AHA report warns that eating too many ultra-processed foods is concerning because ultra-processed foods have adverse health effects, including overweight and obesity, metabolic disorders, and increased mortality.
Therefore, the report recommends eating more unprocessed or minimally processed foods.
07Minimize your sugary diet
Another recommendation from the AHA is to eat less sugary drinks and foods, whether it's glucose or sucrose, as well as other sweeteners, such as corn syrup, honey, maple syrup or fruit juice concentrates, etc. . Likewise, the AHA also recommends eating less low-energy sweeteners.
08 Choose foods with low or no added salt
Not surprisingly, this is classic advice from cardiologists. The AHA recommends that people eat less salt. Here, it doesn’t just mean the salt you put in cooking, but also pay attention to the salt in processed, canned, and packaged foods.
But the AHA points out that one option is to use potassium-rich salt instead of regular salt.
09 If you don’t drink, don’t start drinking
If you drink, drink as little as possible
This is a difficult question for many people. The AHA acknowledges that the relationship between alcohol and cardiovascular disease is "complex" because "risk appears to vary with the amount and pattern of alcohol intake, age, and gender."
10 Follow these eating habits wherever you eat
The AHA says these recommendations apply to all food and beverages, regardless of where they are prepared, purchased and consumed.
Creating an environment that facilitates, rather than hinders, all individuals from adhering to heart-healthy dietary patterns is a public health imperative, the statement said. A heart-healthy diet has lifelong benefits and emphasizes that healthy eating should start early and should continue throughout life.
Content source: China Medical Tribune WeChat public account
Compiled and edited by: Journal of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Nursing
Correspondents: Sun Lei, Qin Shasha, Wang Jingjing, Dong Wei
