Diet and Health
Diet often serves as the essential risk factor to heart diseases as coronary disease. Some food-related factors as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and diet with a high content of saturated fats are the common risk factors to heart diseases. Taking a low saturated fat, high plant food diet, and high fiber has the potential to reduce the risk of heart diseases. Heart diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States and are primarily a result of the diet and other lifestyle behaviors. There are several diet types, and they include; DASH, Mediterranean, therapeutic, weight loss, and vegetarian (Warner, 2019).
Nutrition often serves as the critical determinant of immune responses, with malnutrition being the most common determining factor for immunodeficiency cases worldwide. A number of the nutrients obtained from the diet plays a significant role in the immune responses in an individual’s defense mechanism. They include copper, iron, selenium, vitamins B-6, A, C, and E plays a vital role in the immune response. On the other hand, obesity and overnutrition also reduce an individual’s defense mechanism. A poor defense mechanism also has the potential to lead to a disease that can possibly disrupt the functioning of the digestive system, and this often imposes a greater risk of infections (Tolkahjoy & Bruce, 2017).
Cardiovascular diseases also remain the greatest threat to the health of individuals. The risk factors to these conditions still; remains to be the diet of an individual. The diseases involve the heart and the blood vessels and mainly imposes a challenge in the circulation of blood around the body. In the United States, around 83 million men and women experience the challenges of heart diseases as stroke and heart attack. Approximately one million people succumb to cardiovascular diseases every year (Warner, 2019). Atherosclerosis causes the hardening of the arteries as a result of the accumulation of plaque within the arteries.
References
Tolkachjov, S. N., & Bruce, A. J. (2017). Oral manifestations of nutritional disorders. Clinics in dermatology, 35(5), 441-452.
Warner, K. (2019). Nutritional disorders. In BSAVA Manual of Backyard Poultry Medicine and Surgery (pp. 233-239). BSAVA Library.