Why Is Diet Important?

Why Is Diet Important? - Dietary  factors have been implicated in a broad array of diseases and riks for disease. Perhaps the best known is the relation  of dietary factors to total serum cholesterol level and to low-density lipid proteins is particular (McCaffery et al., 2001). Although diet is only one determinant of a person's lipid profile, it can be an important one because it is controllable and because elevated total serum cholesterol and low density lipid proteins are risk factors for the development of coronary heart disease and hypertensions. Of dietary recommendations, switching from trans fats (from meat and dairy products) to polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats is one of the most widely, recommended course of action (March, 2002). Diet may be implicted in sudden death, because danger from arterial clogging may increase dramatically after a high-fat meal (G. J. Miller et. al., 1989). Salt has been linked to hypertension and to cardiovascular disease in some individuals as well (Jeffery, 1992).

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Dietary habits have also been implicated in the development of several cancers, including colon, stomach, pancreas, and breast (Steinmetz, Kushi, Bostick, Folsom, & Potter, 1994). Dietary modification is also important for polyp prevention among individuals at risk for colorectal cancers, specifically a low-fat, high-fiber diet (Corle et al., 2001). Estimates of the degree to which diet contributes to the incidence of cancer exceed 40% (Fitzgibbon, Stolley, Avellone, Sugerman, & Chaves, 1996).

A poor diet may be especially problematic in conjunctions with other risk factors. Stress, for example, may increase lipid reactivity (Dimsdale & Herd, 1982). Lipid levels may influence intellectual functioning; in particular, serum cholesterol concentration may be an indicator of levels of brain nutrients important to mental effycience (Muldoon, Ryan, Matthews, & Manuck, 1997).

The good news is that canging one's diet can improved health. For example, a diet high in fiber may protect against obesity and cardivascular disease by lowering insulin levels (Ludwig et al., 1999). A diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole graints, peas and beans, poultry, and fish and low in refined grains, potatoes, and red and processed meats has been shown to lower the risk of coronary heart disease in women (Fung, Willett, Stampfer, Manson, & Hu, 2001). Modification in diet can lower blood cholesterol level (Carmody, Matarazzo, & Itsvan, 1987), and these modifications may, in turn, reduce the risk for atherosclerosis. A relatively recent class of drugs, called statins, subtantially reduces cholesterol in conjuction with dietary modification. In fact, the effects of statins are so rapid that low-density lipoprotein (LDL) choleterol is lower within the firts month after beginning use. Together, diet modification and a statin regimen appear to be highly successful for lowering cholesterol.