Europe’s Safe Hearts Plan presents an opportunity to treat cardiovascular disease as a structural public health challenge. Heart health efforts should not reduce the problem to an anti-ultra-processed-food campaign. Progress depends on helping people remain active, eat varied diets in moderation, and receive personalized nutritional support. A European Society of Cardiology consensus statement advises heart patients to cut back on ultra-processed foods and choose home-cooked meals, linking ultra-processed foods to cardiovascular disease and other risks. A British Heart Foundation dietitian argues governments must shape food choices rather than expecting consumers to avoid ultra-processed foods alone. The evidence linking ultra-processed foods to heart disease is largely observational, and home cooking may be unrealistic for many working families due to time, travel, and access constraints.
"Europe’s Safe Hearts Plan offers an important opportunity to address cardiovascular disease (CVD) as the serious, structural public health challenge it is. But if policymakers are to make meaningful progress, they should resist reducing heart health to an anti-UPF crusade and instead focus on solutions that help people stay active, eat varied diets in moderation, and receive personalised nutritional support."
"Published on 6 May, a new European Society of Cardiology consensus statement advises heart patients to cut back on UPFs and favour home-cooked meals, associating them with CVD alongside a list of related health risks. Tracy Parker, a senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, has responded by asserting that consumers cannot be expected to shoulder the UPF-avoidance burden alone, and that governments must play a stronger role in shaping healthy food choices."
"Yet this top-down approach is unlikely to provide the right answer, particularly considering the evidence base on which it rests is not nearly as solid as the ESC suggests. Indeed, even Parker concedes the largely observational nature of research linking high UPF intake to heart disease. Beyond its paternalistic bent, the call from Europe's cardiologists to prioritise home-cooked meals misses the point that for many working families, cooking from scratch is not feasible every day."
"While nutritionists such as Dr Kawther Hashem of Queen Mary University of London may acknowledge that "this can be difficult," such caveats do little in the way of providing realistic alternatives for those juggling long commutes, irregular hours, frequent work travel or limited access to fresh ingredients. This is where UPFs can serve a practical and often positive role,"
#cardiovascular-disease #ultra-processed-foods #public-health-policy #nutrition-and-diet #food-systems
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