Diet and Heart Health Risk

Still not sure about taking more omega-3? Still think medications are more important than your diet/food?

Look at one of the most important publications from 2017:

Renata Micha, RD, PhD; Jose L. Peñalvo, PhD; Frederick Cudhea, PhD; Fumiaki Imamura, PhD; Colin D. Rehm, PhD; Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH.  Association Between Dietary Factors and Mortality From Heart Disease, Stroke, and Type 2 Diabetes in the United States. JAMA. 2017;317(9):912-924. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.0947

Key Points:

“Question  What is the estimated mortality due to heart disease, stroke, or type 2 diabetes (cardiometabolic deaths) associated with suboptimal intakes of 10 dietary factors in the United States?

Findings  In 2012, suboptimal intake of dietary factors was associated with an estimated 318?656 cardiometabolic deaths, representing 45.4% of cardiometabolic deaths. The highest proportions of cardiometabolic deaths were estimated to be related to excess sodium intake, insufficient intake of nuts/seeds, high intake of processed meats, and low intake of seafood omega-3 fats.

Meaning  Suboptimal intake of specific foods and nutrients was associated with a substantial proportion of deaths due to heart disease, stroke, or type 2 diabetes.”

Bottom line: In just one  year (2012), 702,308 cardiometabolic deaths occurred in the USA and of those 318,656 were due to dietary factors.

What are the 10 dietary factors?

The 10 dietary factors assessed by this study included: “fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, whole grains, unprocessed red meats, processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), polyunsaturated fats, seafood omega-3 fats, and sodium.”

The high risk dietary factors associated with cardiometabolic death:

• • • • High sodium intake (>2000 mg/day) – 9.5% of all cardiometabolic death
        • Highest for ? 65 yrs old
      • Low nuts/seeds intake (<20.2 g/day) – 8.5% of all cardiometabolic death
        • Highest for ages 45-54 yrs
      • High processed meats (>0 g/day) – 8.2% of all cardiometabolic death
      • Low seafood omega-3 fats (<250 mg/day) – 7.8% of all cardiometabolic death
      • Low vegetables (<400 g/day) – 7.6% of all cardiometabolic death
      • Low fruits (<300 g/day) – 7.5% of all cardiometabolic death
      • High sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) (>0 g/day) – 7.4% of all cardiometabolic death
        • Highest for ages 25-34 yrs (26.8%) and 35-44 yrs (28.9%) of all cardiometabolic death
      • Whole grains (<125 g/day) – 5.9 %
      • Polyunsaturated fats (<11% energy/day) – 2.3% of all cardiometabolic death
      • Unprocessed red meats (>14.3 g/day) – 0.4% of all cardiometabolic death

     

  It was reassuring to read that some of the numbers are improving with time. Comparing from 2002 to 2012, the number of cardiometabolic deaths decreased by 26.5% especially in the SSB category.  However, there was an increase with unprocessed red meats by 14.4%.

  However, these numbers are astonishing. You have control of your health.  Every meal, every bite helps make you either healthier or at higher risk for medical conditions.  You are given one body.  You can buy different clothes, shoes, houses, cars and phones.  You cannot buy a different body.  Take care of the one body you have with proper nutrition.  

  Learn more about omega-3’s

  Think about joining Arbonne’s 30-day clean eating program – email me if you’re interested at drpradhan@eyedoctormd.org