Mixed
Sodium and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) are the primary drivers of adverse cardiometabolic health impacts globally, with sodium being the largest contributor in most regions and SSB being the largest in Latin America and the Caribbean.
To improve your heart health, focus on reducing sodium and sugary drinks. In most parts of the world, cutting sodium is the single most effective dietary change you can make. If you live in Latin America or the Caribbean, cutting sugary drinks is likely your highest-impact move. Reducing these two factors will yield the greatest reduction in cardiometabolic risk.
Across super-region, sodium was the risk-increasing dietary component with greatest proportional contribution to the IDHIoverall except in Latin America and the Caribbean, where SSB contributed the greatest proportion.
Why this rating
Based on global meta-analyses and country-specific data.
Source
The International Diet-Health Index: a novel tool to evaluate diet quality for cardiometabolic health across countries
Jifan Wang et al. · BMJ Global Health · 2020
DOI 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002120
More from this paper
- Dietary intake of risk-increasing factors (processed meat, red meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, sodium, saturated fat) has a greater detrimental cardiometabolic impact on younger adults (25-44 years) than on older adults, while risk-reducing factors (fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, PUFA, seafood omega-3) provide the greatest benefit to middle-aged adults (45-69 years).Good
- Women experience smaller detrimental cardiometabolic effects from diet than men, as measured by the Adverse Diet-Health Index (IDHIadverse).Good
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