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The Present and Future
State-of-the-Art Review
Food Consumption and its Impact on Cardiovascular Disease: Importance of Solutions Focused on the Globalized Food System: A Report From the Workshop Convened by the World Heart Federation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2015.07.050Get rights and content
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Abstract

Major scholars in the field, on the basis of a 3-day consensus, created an in-depth review of current knowledge on the role of diet in cardiovascular disease (CVD), the changing global food system and global dietary patterns, and potential policy solutions. Evidence from different countries and age/race/ethnicity/socioeconomic groups suggesting the health effects studies of foods, macronutrients, and dietary patterns on CVD appear to be far more consistent though regional knowledge gaps are highlighted. Large gaps in knowledge about the association of macronutrients to CVD in low- and middle-income countries particularly linked with dietary patterns are reviewed. Our understanding of foods and macronutrients in relationship to CVD is broadly clear; however, major gaps exist both in dietary pattern research and ways to change diets and food systems. On the basis of the current evidence, the traditional Mediterranean-type diet, including plant foods and emphasis on plant protein sources provides a well-tested healthy dietary pattern to reduce CVD.

Key Words

cardiovascular disease
climate change
diet
food consumption
food system
low- and middle-income countries

Abbreviations and Acronyms

CHD
coronary heart disease
CI
confidence interval
CVD
cardiovascular disease
GI
glycemic index
GL
glycemic load
HDL-C
high-density lipoprotein cholesterol
HIC
high-income countries
LDL-C
low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
LMIC
low- and middle-income countries
MI
myocardial infarction
OR
odds ratio
RCT
randomized controlled trial
RR
relative risk
SSB
sugar-sweetened beverage
T2DM
type 2 diabetes mellitus

Cited by (0)

Dr. de Souza has served as an external resource person on trans and saturated fats to the World Health Organization’s Nutrition Guidelines Advisory Group. Dr. Bernstein began working at Rally Health in April 2015. Dr. Krauss has received grant support from the U.S. National Dairy Council, the Dairy Research Institute, the Almond Board of California, and Quest Diagnostics; and has served as a consultant for Quest Diagnostics. Dr. Jenkins has served on the scientific advisory boards of Unilever, Sanitarium Company, California Strawberry Commission, Loblaw Supermarket, Herbal Life International, Nutritional Fundamental for Health, Pacific Health Laboratories, Metagenics, Bayer Consumer Care, Orafti, Dean Foods, Kellogg’s, Quaker Oats, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, NuVal Griffin Hospital, Abbott, Pulse Canada, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, and the Canola Council of Canada; has received honoraria for scientific advice from the Almond Board of California, the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research and Education Foundation, Barilla, Unilever Canada, Solae, Oldways, Kellogg’s, Quaker Oats, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, NuVal Griffin Hospital, Abbott, the Canola Council of Canada, Dean Foods, the California Strawberry Commission, Haine Celestial, and the Alpro Foundation; has served on the speakers panel for the Almond Board of California; has received research grant support from Loblaw Brands Ltd, Unilever, Barilla, the Almond Board of California, Solae, Haine Celestial, Sanitarium Company, Orafti, the International Tree Nut Council, and the Peanut Institute; has received travel support to attend meetings from the Almond Board of California, Unilever, the Alpro Foundation, the International Tree Nut Council, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Research Fund; has received salary support as a Canada Research Chair from the federal government of Canada; and discloses that his wife is a director of Glycemic Index Laboratories, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez has had a research contract with Danone to support research on yogurt in the SUN cohort; and received a departmental grant from the International Nut Council. Dr. Mozaffarian has served on the scientific advisory board of Unilever North America; received ad hoc honoraria from Bunge and the Haas Avocado Board; received consulting fees from Nutrition Impact, Amarin, AstraZeneca, Life Sciences Research Organization, and Boston Heart Diagnostics; and receives royalties for an online chapter on fish oil entitled “Fish Oil and Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acids.” Dr. Popkin has received funding to speak on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) behaviors globally from Danone water research center at 2 international conferences in the past 5 years; and was a coinvestigator to a water versus SSB randomized controlled trial funded by Danone to the Mexican National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca, Mexico. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose. Drs. Anand and Hawkes contributed equally to this work.

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