2023-06-22 16:45:00
A healthy and correct diet is the first prevention and treatment tool to avoid cardiovascular diseases. An important message that arrives just over a month after the National Day on Cardiovascular Prevention organized by Siprec, the Italian Society for Cardiovascular Prevention. An initiative created to preserve the health of our heart and live in well-being by avoiding, or at least delaying, very serious cardiovascular events. Fish, fruit and vegetables are the preferred foods to feel good, while the consumption of sugar and saturated fats must be avoided or drastically reduced. All seasoned with good physical activity. In view of the summer – but the rules apply throughout the year – the advice of experts that are good for the heart.
“Dietary factors represent the first cause of heart attack and, together with obesity, make up about 30-35% of all causes of cancer – explains Roberto Volpe, researcher from the National Research Council (Cnr) and member of the Siprec Board – It goes without saying, therefore, that correct nutrition is the first fundamental element for the prevention of these serious pathologies. For example, it would be enough to take about 3 portions of whole grains a day – such as 3 or 4 biscuits, 1 slice of bread and 80 g of pasta or brown rice – to reduce the risk of cardiovascular mortality by 20%, that of cancer by 12%. % and total of 15%”.
However, in recent decades – reads a note – we are witnessing a worrying increase in overweight and obesity conditions in all age groups. According to data from the Passi surveillance system of the Higher Institute of Health, in Italy 32% of adults aged between 18 and 69 are overweight and 11% obese. Overweight children are 20.4%, obese 9.4%, while the percentages in girls are 20.9% and 8.8% respectively. The percentage of overweight children in all age groups represents around 12%. Worrying numbers not only for public health, but also for the burden that falls on health care costs (9%, with a cost per citizen of around 289 euros). Only in the last few years has obesity been recognized as a pathology in its own right, as well as being responsible for other related pathologies, in particular serious cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke and sudden death.
Cardiologist Volpe, ‘avoid cheeses with a high content of lipids, oil and butter in moderation’
“The best weapon to prevent obesity is a combination of a low-calorie diet, above all hypoglycidic and hypolipidic, and physical activity – continues Volpe – to be carried out more or less intensely according to age and physical conditions. It is clear that for a boy it will be fine to run while, in the case of an elderly person, the indication will be to walk at a fast pace. Swimming is, on the other hand, always good. We must then eat fruit and vegetables every day, reduce the intake of sugars and fats, preferring the “good” ones, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, mainly contained in extra-virgin olive oil and, respectively, in some fish and dried fruit” .
It is also necessary, “to avoid cheeses with a high lipid content – continues the expert – to remove visible fat from meat and avoid those in which it cannot be removed, such as frankfurters, sausages, meatballs, hamburgers, mortadella and salami, for example . Not only butter, but also oil must be used in moderation, as it still consists of 100% fat. It is also advisable to take very few sweets that we all know are made with fat and sugar, as well as carbonated drinks due to the high content of simple sugars”.
Among the various dietary strategies effective in reducing body weight, the Mediterranean diet has shown the results obtained to last longer over time. “Just think that, this year too, and for six consecutive years – remarked Volpe – the Mediterranean diet has won the world rankings as the best diet. It is surprising that the American experts of US News are the ones who confer the palm for the best diet in the world. It is undeniable that it is a varied diet, rich in fruit, vegetables, dried fruit, whole grains, foods that protect the vascular system and the heart. And it is precisely the wide variety of foods of animal and above all vegetable origin at the base of the Mediterranean diet, the foundation of a healthy and balanced diet. A true “lifestyle” that should be followed from an early age and that adapts perfectly to the growth cycles and the different health indicators of each one”.
Many initiatives have been developed by Siprec to prevent cardiovascular risk thanks to nutrition. Among these, the adhesion to the Whole Grain Initiative to spread the culture of whole grains. Furthermore, Siprec adheres to the Mediterranean Diet Foundation to promote the culture of this diet in Italian schools and in the world. “As part of the European Heart Network – explains Volpe – we carried out two projects: one in Italian and Slovenian schools, where we trained children with the principles of the Mediterranean diet, in collaboration with some directors who intervened in schools to teach how to make a short , at the end of which the same boys then produced cardiovascular prevention material as part of the dissemination of messages among peers”.
“We then started, simultaneously with some schools in Lazio, a project in Lithuania to modify the distribution of food and drink vending machines in high schools. With good results both as an increase in knowledge on the part of the boys, but also in the reduction of body weight compared to the control group. Finally, Siprec is engaged in the field of research with the Cnr in the Nutrheff network – he concludes – a research network on functional and nutraceutical foods, i.e. those substances that can positively affect our health, understood not only as prevention, but also as real therapy.
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