{"id":18460,"date":"2021-12-10T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18460"},"modified":"2021-12-01T11:51:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T16:51:55","slug":"the-american-heart-association-dietary-guidelines-emphasize-plant-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/12\/10\/the-american-heart-association-dietary-guidelines-emphasize-plant-foods\/","title":{"rendered":"The American Heart Association Dietary Guidelines Emphasize Plant Foods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"148\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screenshot-2021-11-29-at-14-39-06-2021-Dietary-Guidance-to-Improve-Cardiovascular-Health-A-Scientific-Statement-From-the-Am...-300x148.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screenshot-2021-11-29-at-14-39-06-2021-Dietary-Guidance-to-Improve-Cardiovascular-Health-A-Scientific-Statement-From-the-Am...-300x148.png 300w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screenshot-2021-11-29-at-14-39-06-2021-Dietary-Guidance-to-Improve-Cardiovascular-Health-A-Scientific-Statement-From-the-Am....png 481w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The American Heart Association recently issued a scientific\nstatement \u201c2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health.\u201d This\nstatement replaces their earlier recommendations which were published 15 years\nago. While the focus of this statement is heart health, it also considers\ndietary effects on cancer, diabetes, kidney function, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease\nas well as environmental effects of food choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on all of these considerations, the American Heart\nAssociation recommendations include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cChoose healthy sources of protein \u2013 mostly\nprotein from plants (legumes and nuts)\u201d<\/li><li>\u201cEat plenty of fruits and vegetables, choose a\nwide variety\u201d<\/li><li>\u201cChoose foods made mostly with whole grains\nrather than refined grains\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While these guidelines do not call for a vegan or vegetarian\ndiet, they do encourage choosing more plant foods and illustrate the importance\nof plant foods for a healthy diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These guidelines also address ultra-processed foods and say,\n\u201cChoose minimally processed foods instead of ultra-processed foods\u201d with the\ncaveat that some healthy foods may be categorized as ultraprocessed. In\ncontrast to the <em>Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 <\/em>issued by the U.S. Department of\nAgriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a year ago, the\nAmerican Heart Association guidelines address the environmental impact of\ncommonly consumed animal products, especially red meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read the entire text of the American Heart Association\u2019s\nGuidelines see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahajournals.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1161\/CIR.0000000000001031\">2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve\nCardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart\nAssociation.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read more about our take on ultra-processed (and processed)\nfoods see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/journal\/vj2019issue4\/2019_issue4_scientific_update.php\">Beware\nof Diets Based on Ultra-Processed Foods<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2020\/11\/24\/vegan-processed-foods-embrace-them-shun-them\/\">Vegan\nProcessed Foods: Embrace Them? Shun Them?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD The American Heart Association recently issued a scientific statement \u201c2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health.\u201d This statement replaces their earlier recommendations which were published 15 years ago. While the focus of this statement is heart health, it also considers dietary effects on cancer, diabetes, kidney function, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18462,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18460\/revisions\/18462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}