New Dietary Guidelines Provide Framework for Healthy Eating

The American Heart Association recently released dietary guidelines urging Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables, fish twice a week and avoid saturated and trans-fatty acids. For years, St. Luke's Nutrition Services has maintained this standard for its patients while taking it a step further, ensuring that they also get the necessary "good" fats in their diets.

"It's important to balance omega-6 and omega-3, the essential fatty acids in our diets," said Dr. Artemis P. Simopoulos, founder and president of the Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health in Washington, D.C., and author of The Omega Diet. Dr. Simopoulos recently gave a lecture to St. Luke's physicians and staff on her findings. She reported that while the AHA's new guidelines are an important step in the right direction, the public needs to be made aware of some important research-based concepts regarding types and amount of fat intake.

"I don't think that this message is stressed enough," she said. "Instead, what has been stressed in the past are low-fat diets, and that's not the proper message to get across. Not all fats are the same or bad."

In its efforts to be at the forefront of nutritional interventions for cardiovascular care, St. Luke's Nutrition Services follows this approach to its patients' dietary care.

"We want our patients to have the best care we can give," said Theresa Dildy, manager of Nutrition Services at St. Luke's. "So it's crucial that we stay on top of all the latest findings. We're very proud of the fact that St. Luke's nutrition guidelines are consistent with the latest findings in nutrition research."

Key points of the St. Luke's nutrition program include consuming at least seven servings of fruits and vegetables per day, de-emphasizing low-fat diets and emphasizing getting the right kinds of fats in patients' diets. The "right" kinds of fats are omega-3 and monounsaturated fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids raise a person's HDL, or good cholesterol, and are found in fish, walnuts, canola oil, flaxseed and flaxseed oil, and green leafy vegetables. Good cholesterol picks up bad cholesterol deposited in a person's arterial walls and delivers it to the liver for disposal. This prevents artherosclerosis. Monounsaturated fatty acids help control blood pressure and lower LDL, or bad cholesterol, while maintaining levels of HDL. They occur mostly in olive oil, canola oil and nuts.

Dildy and Dr. Simopoulos concurred that current popular diets high in omega-6 have gone to an extreme - recommending too much of a good thing. These lower a person's overall cholesterol level, both the bad as well as the good. Because omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids work against each other, Dildy and Dr. Simopoulos pointed out the importance of maintaining a proper balance between the two. Omega-6 fatty acids are commonly found in oils such as vegetable, safflower, sunflower, corn, soy, and cottonseed. Dildy and Dr. Simopoulos also reported that avoiding artificial trans-fatty acids (foods with any partially hydrogenated ingredients) is essential to living heart-healthy. This makes reading labels a must. All kinds of foods have partially hydrogenated ingredients including bread, cereal, margarine, potato chips, desserts, and fried foods.

"Dr. Simopoulos described the human race as a hunter-gatherer society that has thrived on a diet of fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and fish for most of our existence," Dildy said. "It's critical to our cardiovascular health that we don't get away from that. With the balance we provide in our patients' diet plans, we help them accomplish one of their biggest goals - living a healthy life."

Copies of St. Luke's Nutrition Services Healthy Eating Plan are available by calling (713) 791-2013.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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