Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has claimed almost 800,000 lives each year and continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States.
In the United States, Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has claimed almost 800,000 lives each year and continues to be the leading cause of death there. It is important that one follows all the necessary strategies to lower the CVD risk factors like high cholesterol levels and blood pressure or the narrowing and hardening of the arteries caused by fatty buildup, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. The main strategy that one can easily follow is maintaining a proper and healthy diet.
However, it is observed that there is a lack of data to help patients decide which heart-healthy diet to follow. In a new study, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) compared the patients’ risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event based on the effects of three eating patterns within in the next ten years
DASH & WESTERN
A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is called the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and the diet that is typically low in fruits and vegetables while high in fat and sodium is called a Western diet.
According to the results published in the American Journal of Cardiology, researchers have found that while the risk scores of Cardiovascular Disease have reduced about 10 per cent over an eight-week period by having an DASH and fruit/vegetable diet. This diet conferred additional benefits for women and Black adults compared to Western Diet.
Studies show that the benefits associated with these diets may vary by gender and race. While a diet rich in fruits and vegetables produced reductions in risk for women and black participants, the effect with the DASH diet was twice as large in women and four times as large in black adults.
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Researchers acquired data from the original DASH trial between 1994 and 1996 to determine the effect of the different diets on an individual’s risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. It included 459 adults aged 22 to 75 participants. The participants were roughly half black and half women and were randomised to one of three diets for eight weeks.
The diet contained saturated fat and was high in total fat and cholesterol. The fruit and vegetable diet provided more produce, but did not otherwise significantly differ from the control diet. The DASH diet not only emphasised more on lean proteins, whole grains, nuts and low-fat dairy while reducing fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sugar but also provided more fruit and vegetables.
What’s DASH?
First published in 1997, the DASH trial demonstrated that, among adults with elevated blood pressure and hypertension, the DASH diet not only reduced systolic blood pressure but also reduced HDL cholesterol levels, compared to the control diet.
When researchers compared the data, they found that both the DASH diet and the fruit and vegetable diet had lowered participants for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease by about 10 per cent, overall. Although the effects were not consistent across demographics. The 10- year risk score among women was reduced by nearly 13 percent compared to over sic percent over men and in black adults it got reduced to 14 per cent after they followed the DASH diet.
CONCLUSION
The researchers concluded by saying that it is seen that the leading cause of death in women and hypertension is also more strongly linked with heart failure and death in women than men. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of it. They further said that women are less likely to receive risk factor modification therapies, such as statins and therefore their finding that DASH may be more efficacious among women are relevant for lifestyle counselling in this group.
Also read: asianatimes.com/why-does-chris-hemsworth-want-time-off/
