Analysis of the efficacy of the main dietary patterns in reducing cardiovascular risk

Introduction: cardiovascular diseases are not only the leading cause of death with 30% of all of them in the world, but the significant increase in their incidence in recent years places them in a health emergency. These pathologies are closely related to unhealthy eating patterns (intensive consumption of sodium, sugars, saturated fats, and low consumption of fruits and vegetables, cereals, fiber, legumes, fish and nuts). An adequate dietary pattern individually adjusted to the clinical characteristics of each patient can help us reduce both body weight and cardiovascular risk. Objective: To analyze and compare the efficacy of the main dietary patterns in reducing cardiovascular risk. Results: The Mediterranean diet continues to be the pattern with the most evidence and the best results on the reduction of said cardiovascular risk and its mortality. However, the DASH diet is a good alternative, especially for hypertensive patients. In turn, the vegetarian diet has shown many cardiovascular benefits, with few disadvantages. Another more complex but currently very fashionable alternative is the ketogenic diet, which still does not have sufficient scientific support in reducing cardiovascular risk. Conclusions: Carrying out an adequate dietary pattern is the most important measure to prevent the first cause of death in the world, for this we have several dietary patterns among which the Mediterranean diet stands out.