Essay: Cardiovascular disease (CVD)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of non-communicable disease deaths worldwide (World Health Organization, 2014). The World Health Organization predicts that the number of deaths caused by CVD will reach 23.3 million by 2030. CVD is an umbrella term that encompasses a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels. These diseases include hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and cardiomyopathies to name a few. One of the risk factors for CVD is overweight or obesity and sedentary behavior. Obesity is an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue. Overweight and obesity are defined by the International Obesity Task Force as a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 25.0 and 29.9 kg/m^2 and a BMI ‘30.0 kg/m^2 respectively (Low et al., 2009). The worldwide prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased exponentially in the last decade and is highest in the Americas with 61% overweight or obese (World Health Organization, 2014). This has had large impacts on the health care system, with the current estimated cost of overweight and obesity at over 100 billion U.S. dollars per year (Meckling et al., 2004). There as been an increased focus on reducing the ‘obesity epidemic’ and preventing the increased risks of CVD. It is estimated that 45% of American women and 30% of American men diet to lose weight, largely as a result of increased awareness regarding both obesity and CVD, and because it is an effective and cost efficient weight loss strategy.
There is comprehensive research on the effects of diets on weight and body composition however their effects on cardiovascular health are largely unknown and require further research (Phillips, 2008). This study will focus on two of the more commonly used weight loss diets, low-fat diet and low-carbohydrate diet. There are several forms of both diets, however low-fat diets are most commonly defined as <30% of daily energy intake from total fat and <7% saturated fat (Bazzano et al., 2014). Several definitions of low-carbohydrate diets include 30-130g of carbohydrate per day, <30% of daily energy intake from carbohydrates, or very low-carbohydrate diets consisting of <30 g of carbohydrates per day. The Dr. Atkin's New Diet Revolution is one of the most popular low-carbohydrate diets and has been modeled in several studies. It consists of 12 weeks of <20 g/day of carbohydrates followed by a 5g/day per week increase (Foster et al., 2010). This study aims to research the effects of a low-fat diet vs. a low-carbohydrate diet on weight loss in overweight and obese individuals and on CVD risk factors linked to obesity. Based on a review of the literature this proposal predicts that both diets will achieve similar results in weight loss reduction and body composition factors among individuals of obese status. This proposal also predicts to observe divergent effects on CVD risk factors by each diet, more specifically a greater reduction in several markers of CVD in participants assigned the low-fat diet. When consuming a low-carbohydrate diet there is an increased proportion of dietary intake from fat. This has several implications on endothelial health as a result of increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and fat (Bazzano et al., 2014 & Phillips et al., 2008). This research is extremely relevant within contemporary society due to both the prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide as well as CVD, resulting in increased mortality rates yearly. Knowing the effects of a low-fat and low-carbohydrate diet on CVD markers will also assist health professionals in their practices when recommending or administering diets to their patients.