Dietary guidelines

Dietary patterns are modifiable risk factors for chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and malignancies.

Dietary patterns are linked to chronic disease risk factors including: lipids, diabetes, hypertension, BMI, atherosclerosis and inflammation.

Most individuals in the US do not consume diets associated with good health, principally due to under consuming nourishing foods which include fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, whole grains, dairy, and seafood.

To promote good health it is necessary to reduce specific over consumed foods: refined grains, red, and processed meats, and sugar sweetened beverages.

Approximately 2% of people in the US consume whole grains while 93% consume excessive refined grains.

Dietary guidelines, recommend prioritizing plant based over animal-based protein sources, replacing processed or unprocessed red meats with beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, or soy.

90% of US residents consumes sufficient protein.

When sugars are added to foods and beverages, they add calories but do not contribute essential nutrients.

It is recommended to limit added sugars to less than 10% of calories per day to achieve healthy eating patterns.

Added sugars currently account for more than 13% of total calories consumed by the US population.

The recommendation that we eat three meals a day with some snacking on top is mainly based on studies of diabetics, but it intermittent fasting actually improves glucose regulation.

The epidemic of obesity has occurred occurred in the past 40 years with the eating pattern of three meals a day plus snacks.

Saturated fats should be limited to less than 10% of calories per day.

Replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease events and deaths.

The average sodium intake among Americans is currently 3440 mg per day and should be reduced.

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) originally designed to reduce hypertension, has been shown to reduce overall mortality in adults with hypertension and women with heart failure over approximately 5 to 8 years of follow-up.

DASH diet is associated with approximately 17% decrease in the risk for all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in the adults age more than 60 years.

Healthy eating dietary guidelines limit sodium to less than 2300 mg per day for adults and children age 14 years or older.

There is a linear response relationship between increased sodium intake and increased blood pressure in adults, but the direct evidence for the association between sodium intake and risk of cardiovascular disease in adults is not as consistent as the evidence for blood pressure.

Healthy eating patterns include: vegetables from all the subgroups-dark green, red and orange, lagoons, storage unit, and other fruits especially whole fruits, grains at least half of which are whole grains, fat free or low fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and fortified soy beverages, protein foods including seafood, lean meats, poultry, eggs, beans and cheese, nuts, seeds, and soy products, and oils.

Optimal recommendations include a diet of saturated fat diet of 8%,  total dietary fat 32% and increase of n-6 six and n-3 poly unsaturated fat.

Alcohol should be consumed in moderation up to one drink per day for women and it up to two drinks per day for men and only in adults of legal drinking age.

Replacing frying with steaming or boiling when cooking, trimming visible fat from meat, eating reduced fat dairy foods and lean meats and reducing consumption of desserts and sweet snacks can lower saturated fat intake.