The American Heart Association (AHA) analyzed the most popular diets and ranked them based on which approaches were best and worst for your heart. The conclusion was that on a scale of 0 to 100, some of the trendiest diets in social media were the worst for cardiovascular health. For example, very low-carb regimens like the Atkins and ketogenic diets scored 31 points and the paleo diet scored 53 points.
According to MSN, following diets like these typically means restricting your carbohydrate intake to less than 10% of daily calories. They are touted as effective weight loss diets and are often endorsed by celebrities. The AHA noted that while very low carb diets may help with weight loss and improve certain markers of metabolic health, such as blood sugar and triglyceride levels, these effects may be temporary. In fact, these diets can cause an increase in LDL “bad” cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease.
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The report found similar issues with the paleo diet, which excludes grains, vegetable oils, most dairy products and legumes. It does allow foods like fruit and honey that our hunter-gathering ancestors had access to but excludes grains and other foods associated with modern agriculture that the AHA says promotes heart health. These diets have also drawn criticism from nutrition experts for what many people interpret is an “all you can eat” stance on red meat, from steaks and burgers to bacon and processed deli meats.
And while these diets generally restrict the consumption of sugar and refined grains and encourage eating non-starchy carbs like cauliflower and leafy greens, they do limit a lot of healthy carbs such as beans, whole grains, and many fruits, which the AHA says are important to cardiovascular health.
The report gave it highest mark — a score of 100 — to the DASH diet, which stands for “dietary approaches to stop hypertension.” This plan was developed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health in the 1990’s and has been widely endorsed by doctors, dietitians and other nutrition experts, says MSN.
The DASH diet and three others with high scores were grouped into what the AHA called Tier 1. Others in Tier 1 include the pescatarian diet (92 points), the Mediterranean diet (89 points) and the vegetarian diet (86 points).
While these diets have some differences, they share prioritizing fresh produce, whole grains, beans and other plants and whole foods. Obviously the pescatarian diet prefers promoting fish as the main protein, while the vegetarian diet eschews both fish and meat.
“The conclusion that we came away with between these diets is that they’re all fine and very consistent with a heart-healthy diet,” said Christopher D. Gardner, the director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and chair of the committee that wrote the report, published Thursday in the journal Circulation.