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Monday, June 20, 2011

Components of a Cardioprotective Diet: New Insights

Mozaffarian, Dariush MD, DrPH; Appel, Lawrence J. MD, MPH; Van Horn, Linda PhD, RD
From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health; Boston, MA (D.M.); Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (L.J.A.); and Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (L.V.H.). Correspondence to D. Mozaffarian, 665 Huntington Ave, Bldg 2-319, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail dmozaffa@hsph.harvard.edu
The global burdens of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), and obesity are rising, producing enormous losses of life and disability-adjusted life-years in both developed and developing nations.1 Most of these burdens are preventable and are occurring at unnecessarily younger ages, largely owing to suboptimal lifestyle, which includes poor diet quality, excess caloric intake, physical inactivity, and smoking.25 Worldwide, striking differences in dietary habits and rates of chronic diseases exist. The identification and targeting of dietary factors with the greatest potential for reducing CVD, DM, and obesity are of major scientific and public health importance.
 
The science of diet and chronic disease is relatively young, spanning perhaps only half a century.6 New advances offer substantial evidence from complementary research paradigms on cardiometabolic effects of specific dietary factors. Several recent evidence-based reviews conducted in conjunction with national and international policy-making efforts provide the context for the present report. The need to prioritize selected foods and overall dietary patterns rather than only individual nutrients, the relevance of carbohydrate and fat quality as well as quantity, the effects and policy implications of sodium consumption, the importance of energy balance, and the role of dietary supplements represent several key findings of interest. Evidence-based insights into successful individual and public health strategies for behavior change are also addressed. Overall, the present report is intended to provide a useful framework for health practitioners and policy makers to understand contemporary issues related to the effects of diet on CVD./.../

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