Heart protection: AHA cardiologists update dietary guidelines

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For the first time in 15 years, the American Heart Association (AHA) has published an updated list of dietary recommendations for heart health.

Cardiovascular diseases, treatable or chronic, account for the maximum number of deaths worldwide each year. Whether it is a heart attack or cardiac arrest, coronary heart disease or peripheral artery disease – according to cardiologists, any disease associated with a violation of the healthy state of blood vessels and myocardium can lead to death if it is not diagnosed or treated in time .

In turn, diet and some lifestyle practices are factors capable of providing effective protection against the development of heart diseases. In this regard, the American Heart Association (AHA) for the first time in many years updated the list of dietary recommendations for heart health.

Here are the new recommendations of cardiologists regarding nutrition:

• Include a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet.
• Regulate your energy intake and expenditure to achieve a healthy body weight.
• Choose whole grain products instead of refined, polished or ground grain products.
• Use more liquid vegetable oils such as corn oil, sunflower oil oil, canola oil and olive oil, instead of animal fats.
• Minimize alcohol consumption.
• Switch to healthy versions of lean proteins.
• Limit sugary foods and drinks .
• Choose minimally processed foods over highly processed foods.
• Cook with limited or no salt.

Experts emphasize , that in order to protect the heart from acquired diseases, it is most effective to start practicing good habits at an early stage of life, then maintaining them for many years. To that end, choosing foods with minimal processing and rich in plant proteins is a key nutritional principle, regardless of where you eat, cardiologists summarize.