The American Heart Association has for the first time developed a ranking of the top 10 diets that can increase the risk of heart diseases, although they help reduce weight.
The list is the first of its kind, as it is the only recorded time experts from the American Heart Association have developed such a report. The committee of experts followed guidelines for a healthy heart to score the sampled weight-loss diets.
What were the criteria for sampling diets that could trigger heart diseases?
The committee ranked diets based on how well they matched the scientific guidelines below:
- Eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruits.
- Choose foods with mostly whole grains rather than refined grains.
- Choose healthy sources of protein, such as plants (legumes and nuts), fish and seafood, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products instead of full-fat dairy products.
- If meat is included, cuts should be lean, and processed forms should be avoided.
- Use liquid plant oils (olive, safflower, corn) rather than animal fats (butter and lard) and tropical oils (coconut, palm kernel).
- Consume minimally processed foods instead of ultra-processed foods.
- Limit consumption of beverages and foods with added sugars.
- Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt.
- Avoid or limit alcohol
What are the classes of heart diseases triggering diets?
At the end of sample experimentations, experts from the American Heart Association classified weight losing diets into four namely
- DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), for its reliance on fish, poultry, beans, nuts and low-fat dairy.
- Mediterranean, which is rich in seafood, vegetables, nuts and whole grains.
- Vegetarian, including eggs or dairy or both.
- Pescetarian, which relies on fish as the main source of protein
What are the ranks of diets based on their ability to trigger heart complications?
- Top marks were given to the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet, which focuses on whole grains, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. These top-scoring diets emphasize on whole grains which do not only reduce the risk of getting heart diseases but also cancer risk and other ailments, like diabetes.
- Vegan and low-fat diets were ranked in the second tier. Both dieting methods were shown to encourage consuming legumes and nuts while limiting alcohol and foods and beverages with added sugars. However,experts advise that following a strict vegan diet could contribute to vitamin B-12 deficiency in consumers. And it was also reported that low-fat diets lost scores for treating all fats the same because people tended to replace fats with carbohydrates and added sugars.
- The third tier included very low-carb and very low-fat diets for being too low in fiber or for restricting fruits, nuts and healthy fats, such as plant oils.
- The keto and paleo diets also fell into the fourth tier, in part because of restrictions on fruits, whole grains and legumes, which can result in reduced fiber intake.
What must you know about heart diseases?
Well, expert cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons have these brief takeaways for readers and they are;
“Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally, so we should all be concerned with how to prevent it,” says Brooke Aggarwal, an assistant professor of medical sciences in the cardiology division at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
“It’s not that eating fat, in general, is bad for the heart. Unsaturated fats — such as plant-based oils, like olive oil or sunflower oil, or fish, like salmon, and walnuts — can reduce LDL cholesterol levels and lower the risk of heart disease,” says Christopher Gardner, a professor of medicine at Stanford University.