How could diet affect cardiovascular health?

    Researchedby:
    Gregory Lopez

    Fact-checked

    by:

    Nick Milazzo, Shyam Jayaraman
    Last Updated: October 25, 2023

    Diet can have major potential effects on cardiovascular health, although the specifics depend on the aspect of health in question. For example, there’s strong evidence to suggest that a diet low in salt and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish[1] like the Mediterranean diet[2] is effective for the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and diets high in nitrate-containing foods like beetroot juice, kale, and spinach may have the potential to improve cardiovascular aspects of athletic performance, although the magnitude of these effects for high-performing athletes is questionable.[3]

    References

    1. ^Donna K Arnett, Roger S Blumenthal, Michelle A Albert, Andrew B Buroker, Zachary D Goldberger, Ellen J Hahn, Cheryl Dennison Himmelfarb, Amit Khera, Donald Lloyd-Jones, J William McEvoy, Erin D Michos, Michael D Miedema, Daniel Muñoz, Sidney C Smith Jr, Salim S Virani, Kim A Williams Sr, Joseph Yeboah, Boback Ziaeian2019 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice GuidelinesCirculation.(2019 Sep 10)
    2. ^Frank L J Visseren, François Mach, Yvo M Smulders, David Carballo, Konstantinos C Koskinas, Maria Bäck, Athanase Benetos, Alessandro Biffi, José-Manuel Boavida, Davide Capodanno, Bernard Cosyns, Carolyn Crawford, Constantinos H Davos, Ileana Desormais, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Oscar H Franco, Sigrun Halvorsen, F D Richard Hobbs, Monika Hollander, Ewa A Jankowska, Matthias Michal, Simona Sacco, Naveed Sattar, Lale Tokgozoglu, Serena Tonstad, Konstantinos P Tsioufis, Ineke van Dis, Isabelle C van Gelder, Christoph Wanner, Bryan Williams, ESC Scientific Document Group, ESC National Cardiac Societies2021 ESC Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practiceEur Heart J.(2021 Sep 7)
    3. ^Woessner MN, McIlvenna LC, Ortiz de Zevallos J, Neil CJ, Allen JDDietary nitrate supplementation in cardiovascular health: an ergogenic aid or exercise therapeutic?Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol.(2018-02-01)