Diet and heart disease

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Diet is a major contributing factor to the presence (or lack thereof) of heart disease, an umbrella term describing many heart ailments.

For example, a diet high in cholesterol may lead to coronary heart disease, a condition in which a buildup of plaque occurs in the arteries near the heart. A diet of less than 300mg of cholesterol is recommended by the American Heart Association. This reduced level of cholesterol means less buildup of plaque in the arteries near the heart, thus greatly reducing the likelihood of coronary heart disease.

The Framingham Heart Study addressed dietary risk factors and risk reduction and is widely used for data worldwide on heart disease and its causes and preventions.^[1]

The AHA-1 Diet is recommended by the American Heart Association.^[2] The AHA also states that Mediterranean-style diets are often close to their dietary recommendations, but don’t follow them exactly. ^[3]

Two dietary programs developed specifically to reverse heart disease are the Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise created by Nathan Pritikin and the Ornish program created by Dr. Dean Ornish. Both emphasize exercise and lifestyle change in addition to dietary treatment.

It is generally accepted^{[citation needed]} that foods containing high cholesterol, or that cause the body to make more cholesterol, affect heart disease. Foods containing fiber, potassium, nitric oxide (in green leafy vegetables), monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, saponins, lecithin, stanol, sterol, phytic acid, phenolics, antioxidants, carotenoids, flavonoids, or tannins are said to lower cholesterol levels in the body. Foods high in grease, salt, trans fat, or saturated fat are said to raise cholesterol levels.