May 2012/Prepared Foods -- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for more loss of life than the combined total of the next five leading causes (cancer, influenza, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, accidents and diabetes mellitus). But, mortality statistics fail to capture the entire picture of the devastation that includes the chronic illness, physical disability and economic burden for patients, families and healthcare systems. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the U.S., 27.1 million adults are diagnosed with CVD and another 81.1 million walk around with one or more symptoms. As if that news wasn’t bad enough, there is something else to consider: Although CVD risk increases with age, it’s occurring increasingly in younger patients—even in children.
A healthy diet and appropriate lifestyle choices can significantly reduce the risk factors, yet these strategies are greatly under-utilized. People like foods with flavor and often associate heart-healthy foods with a tasteless and boring cuisine. So, food manufactures marketing to health-conscious consumers must include heart-healthy ingredients in a form that’s enticing. The many choices of heart-healthy ingredients can be classed by their tendency to address major risk factors.