Heart Health
Heart-healthy eating: How does your diet stack up?
The DASH diet — along with Mediterranean, pescatarian, and vegetarian eating patterns — received the highest marks in a recent ranking by the American Heart Association.
- Reviewed by Christopher P. Cannon, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Heart Letter; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
When you consider that 80% of heart disease can be prevented by healthy lifestyle habits, it makes sense to prioritize the one habit you can't live without: eating. But many people — including doctors — aren't sure which diets are best for keeping your heart healthy.
This problem was the inspiration behind a recent scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA), published May 30, 2023, in Circulation, says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "People hear about all sorts of popular diets in the news and on social media. But they don't have a good sense about which ones actually have scientific evidence behind them," he says. Neither do most doctors, as they receive very little nutrition training as part of their education. (Note that although the word "diet" is often associated with weight loss, it more generally refers to the kinds of foods people typically eat.)
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About the Author
Julie Corliss, Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter
About the Reviewer
Christopher P. Cannon, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Heart Letter; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing
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