Highlights

Heart-Healthy Diet Guidelines

Key recommendations for a heart-healthy diet include:

• Eat a balanced diet with plenty of high-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts. Reduce consumption of high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods and beverages.
• Eat fish, especially oily fish (such as salmon, trout, and mackerel), at least twice a week. Oily fish is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which help lower the risk of death from heart disease.
• Get at least 5 - 10% of daily calories from omega-6 fatty acids, which are found in vegetable oils such as sunflower, safflower, corn, and soybean as well as nuts and seeds.
• Choose fat-free or low-fat dairy products.
• Limit daily consumption of foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol, such as red meat, shellfish, and egg yolks.
• Limit consumption of trans fatty acids (found in fast foods and commercially baked products) to less than 1% of total daily calories.
• Replace saturated and trans fats with unsaturated fats from plant and fish oils.
• Restrict your salt intake. Try to limit sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (1 teaspoon) of salt a day. Middle-aged and older people should aim for 1,500 milligrams or fewer of sodium a day, as should African-Americans and people with high blood pressure.
• For sugar, choose nutrient-rich fruits. Avoid beverages and processed foods that contain added sugars
• If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation (1 drink per day for women, 2 drinks per day for men).
• Exercise regularly (at least 30 minutes a day) so that you burn as many calories as you consume to maintain a healthy weight.

Vitamin D and Heart Health

Vitamin D may play a role in preventing heart and metabolic problems, indicate several studies from the past year. The recent research suggests that children and adults who are vitamin D-deficient may be at increased risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Next Section

Heart Healthy Diet Introduction

Review Date: 04/02/2010
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)