Top Diets For Heart Health, According To American Heart Association
CNN
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Top Diets For Heart Health, According To American Heart Association
Heart disease is the leading killer of men and women worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, but there are ways to significantly reduce your risk.
Top Diets For Heart Health, According To American Heart Association
Along with regular exercise and not smoking, a healthy diet is a key way to keep heart disease at bay. But which diet best meets the dietary guidelines of the American Heart Association?
Top Diets For Heart Health, According To American Heart Association
In a new scientific statement, leading experts in nutrition ranked 10 popular diets on their ability to meet the AHA’s evidence-based dietary guidance for heart health, published in 2021.
Top Diets For Heart Health, According To American Heart Association
The winner? The DASH diet, which was 100% aligned with AHA goals for heart-healthy eating. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension; high blood pressure is a major contributor to heart disease and stroke.
Top Diets For Heart Health, According To American Heart Association
The pescatarian diet, which allows dairy, eggs, fish and other seafood but no meat or poultry, was 92% aligned with the AHA guidelines. The lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, which allows dairy and eggs, and variations that include one or the other, were 86% aligned.
Top Diets For Heart Health, According To American Heart Association
The award-winning Mediterranean diet was 89% aligned with the AHA dietary recommendations. The popular diet came in third mostly because it recommends a small glass of red wine each day and doesn’t limit salt, said lead author Christopher Gardner, a research professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center in California who directs its Nutrition Studies Research Group.
“The American Heart Association says no one should drink alcohol if they haven’t started,” Gardner said. “And if they do drink, to do so minimally.”
Research has linked the Mediterranean diet to reduced risk for diabetes, high cholesterol, dementia, memory loss, depression and breast cancer as well as weight loss, stronger bones, a healthier heart and longer life.
But all of these diets share so much in common they can really be grouped together as a top “tier” of eating patterns, Gardner said.
“We basically were trying to say a diet doesn’t have to be 100 to…