Diet Quality and Cardiovascular Health

Abstract

The association between diet quality and cardiovascular health has been extensively investigated over the last few years. The Global Burden of Disease Study 1 showed that, in 2017, dietary risk factors such as high intake of sodium, low intake of whole grains, and low intake of fruits were responsible for 11 million deaths across 195 countries.Petersen et al. 2 reviewed different ways to evaluate diet quality, which is a term used to quantify how healthy a particular dietary pattern is. It is clear that assessing and encouraging individual dietary components such as specific foods, nutrients, or bioactive compounds alone is not enough. Therefore, the totality of the diet is being increasingly assessed, since it has a greater impact on health outcomes.Based on the available evidence, the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee 3 concluded that there is strong and consistent evidence that dietary patterns associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are characterized by higher intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and seafood, as well as lower intake of red and processed meat, refined grains, and sugar-sweetened foods and beverages.