Copyright © 2007, European Society of Cardiology
Nutrition and cardiovascular disease: Putting a pathogenic framework into focus
aDepartment of General Pathology, Division of Clinical Pathology and Excellence Research Center on Cardiovascular Diseases, Complesso S. Andrea delle Dame, 1st School of Medicine, II University of Naples, Naples 80138, Italy
bDepartment of Physiology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, OH 44106, USA
cDepartment of Biophysics and Nutrition, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, OH 44106, USA
dDepartment of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine; University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +39 081 293399. Email address: claunap@tin.it
Received 27 November 2006; accepted 27 November 2006
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
In the last two decades it has become clear that dietary recommendations are a key element in the management of cardiovascular disease (CVD). An expanding body of evidence indicates that certain dietary patterns can influence cardiovascular health and primary prevention of CVD by modifying risk factors such as obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension as well as factors involved in systemic inflammation, insulin sensitivity, oxidative stress, endothelial function, thrombosis, and cardiac rhythm [1–3]. In the last century dietary and exercise habits have changed, with greater abundance of refined foods and a more sedentary lifestyle, resulting in the rising prevalence of obesity in Western countries [4,5].
In the present Spotlight Issue, we present a series of review articles and original papers with the aim of investigating the various dietary profiles and pathogenic mechanisms that have emerged in the literature and the major studies that investigated their effectiveness in modifying cardiovascular risk.