Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is incredibly prevalent in the U.S. According to recent stats from the CDC, 1 in every 4 deaths in the U.S. is related to some for of CVD. One of the main reasons I pursued a career in nutrition is because I have seen that the power of nutrition therapy is incredibly underutilized and I want to help more consumers experience it’s power in disease prevention, reduction of disease symptoms, and as a cure for many symptoms and diseases!

When it comes to CVD, we have known for many years that cholesterol, fat, and fiber play a big role in CVD risk reduction. However, researchers have been consistently looking at dietary factors for CVD as a whole instead of individually. I’m excited to share that a recent study has looked more closely at comparing the impact of plant-based diets versus diets consisting mainly of low-fat foods to see which is more beneficial in relation to CVD risk reduction. Say you’re concerned with you heart health, or wish to keep your heart happy and healthy, and/or have a family history of CVD-related conditions. Don’t you want to know how you can improve your diet to reduce your own risk for coronary heart disease and stroke!? I sure do!

We’re going to keep this one short… not quite microblog length, but short enough for you a short read…

A study presented at the Nutrition Live Online 2021 virtual meeting found that a nutritious plant-based diet, but not a diet consisting mainly of low-fat foods, was linked to a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease among adults — though both diets were associated with reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Note that LDL cholesterol is “bad cholesterol” because it collects in the walls of you blood vessels, raising your chance of heart problems. The findings of this study based on data from 4,700 adults also showed that a nutritious plant-based diet was linked with a reduced risk for coronary heart disease and stroke.

The message here is that a nutritionally rich plant-centered diet is beneficial for cardiovascular health. More research must be done to understand the role of saturated fat and it’s relationship to blood cholesterol changes. Lastly, please note that single-nutrient messaging does overlook many aspects of diets and does not predict CVD. We can only interpret this study as face value and should be cautious to not over-simplify CVD risk reduction.

To read the full article, visit https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20210608/nutritionally-rich-plantbased-diet-lowers-cvd-risk