Prioritizing the one habit you can not live without—eating—makes sense when you consider that healthy lifestyle choices can prevent 80% of heart disease. However, many people, including medical professionals, are unsure of the ideal foods for maintaining heart health.
According to Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, this issue served as the basis for a recent scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) that was published in Circulation on May 30, 2023. “On social media and in the news, people learn about a variety of trendy diets. However, they lack a good understanding of which ones are supported by scientific data, he claims. The majority of doctors also don’t, since they do not get any nutrition education. (Note that the term “diet” more broadly refers to the kinds of foods individuals usually eat, even if it is frequently associated with weight loss.)
Ranking based on evidence
According to the AHA’s dietary guidelines, which advise minimizing saturated fat and excess carbohydrates, particularly highly processed carbs and sugary drinks, the statement rates ten popular diets (see “Popular diets: Common names, major features, and rankings”). According to Dr. Hu, who reviewed the scientific statement, the information is derived from decades of population-based studies, randomized trials, and other research.