American Heart Association: The American Heart Association says new recommendations for the next
update of federal Dietary Guidelines will provide effective support for
Americans who want to achieve a healthy diet. The report, released today
by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee will inform the
Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) as
they craft the new guidelines, due out later this year. The advisory
committee’s report, written by a panel of nutrition experts, stresses
the importance of a healthy dietary pattern limited in saturated and trans fat, added sugars, and sodium.
“It’s clear that Americans need to change their eating habits and
make more nutritious choices,” said Elliott Antman, M.D., president of
the American Heart Association. “Although the American Heart
Association and the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee differ on the
ultimate target levels for sodium, saturated fats, and added sugars, the
Committee’s recommendations are a shift in the right direction, and if
accepted by HHS and USDA, will help steer the public toward a more heart
healthy path in their daily diets.”
One important point made in the committee’s report is that Americans
are still eating way too much sodium – around 3,400 mg/day. With about
14 percent of kids age 12 to 19 and two-thirds of adults already
pre-hypertensive or hypertensive, the report recommends following the
AHA/ACC 2013 Lifestyle Guidelines for sodium intake. For the general
population, the report recommends less than 2,300 mg/day, the same
amount as the current guidelines.
“Reducing excessive salt in our diets is critical to cutting our
cardiovascular risk, and the association is pleased that the committee
emphasizes this in their recommendations,” Antman said. “We urge the
food industry to give Americans a better chance to achieve this goal, by
decreasing sodium in packaged and restaurant foods – the source of
nearly 80 percent of the salt we eat daily.”
The report also noted research showing the correlation between
decreasing children’s sodium intake and lowering their blood pressure.
“More of our kids are suffering from elevated blood pressure, and one
third of them are overweight or obese,” added Antman. “Too much salt in
our children’s diets will make this situation worse and put future
generations on the road to heart disease and stroke. There’s no
question that we should continue to strive to reduce the sodium in the
foods our kids eat.”
Antman also commended the advisory committee’s recommendation to
maintain a limit on dietary saturated fat intake in light of its strong
relationship to LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and cardiovascular disease risk.
Saturated fats are found mainly in animal fats, meat and dairy
products, and tropical oils, such as coconut and palm. “We are pleased
to see that the recommendations call for lowering saturated fats and
encourage replacing them with unsaturated fats instead of refined grains
and added sugars,” he said.
As anticipated, the panel did not include a recommendation for
dietary cholesterol, noting that it is not a nutrient of concern for
overconsumption in the population. The association’s 2013 joint
guideline on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk also
concluded that scientific evidence did not support limiting dietary
cholesterol to lower artery clogging LDL-cholesterol in the blood.
Added sugars are another key area of interest to the association. The
association commends the science committee’s recommendation to reduce
consumption of added sugars through policies and programs at local,
state, and national levels, particularly from sugar sweetened beverages
like regular sodas, fruit drinks, and sports drinks.
“We are working very hard to reduce the amount of sugar-sweetened
beverages Americans drink – in schools, at universities and in
worksites,” Antman said. “We also are working to create policy changes
so people who rely on government support for food can have access to
healthier options.”
The guidelines are a good first step to building a culture of health
through policy changes, Antman said, but there’s still a long way to go.
“Unless we translate these policies into action we’re not going to be
able to really help drive change in the health of Americans,” he said.
“We need a complete culture shift so consumers can easily make healthy
choices, and that requires all of us working together – government,
industry, health and science organizations, and advocates.”
The impact of a widespread, coordinated movement would not only
affect people’s health and mortality, but could also rein in health
costs.
“One estimate suggests a national effort that reduces population
sodium intake by 1,200 mg per day could reduce the health burdens
related to heart disease in addition to reducing health care costs by up
to $24 billion per year,” Antman said.