The high cost of a poor diet

Unhealthy eating habits cost the American health care system about $50 billion a year just for heart-related diseases.

What you choose to eat every day has a major influence on your cardiovascular health. But did you know that your dietary choices — combined with those of everyone else in this country — also have a big impact on our nation's economic health?

"About 45% of the cost associated with heart disease, stroke, and diabetes — what we call cardiometabolic disease — is related to an unhealthy diet," says cardiologist Dr. Thomas A. Gaziano, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Here's the key thing to know about an unhealthy diet: what you're not eating may be just as important as what you are eating.