if you have diabetes you are twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as someone who does not states american diabetes association the worldwide burden of type 2 diabetes t2d is increasing rapidly along with an increase in cardiovascular disease cvd having type 2 diabetes t2d means that you are more likely to develop heart disease and have a greater chance of a heart attack or a stroke in patients with t2d the risk of having a cardiovascular event increases due to many prognostic risk factors people with diabetes are also more likely to have certain conditions that increase the chances of having heart disease or stroke such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol if your blood glucose levels are high over time you are more likely to develop atheroma a fatty material that builds up on the lining of the arteries this can lead to a heart attack or stroke if you have diabetes you can protect your heart and health by managing your blood glucose as well as your blood pressure and cholesterol diet is one of the key things you can change that will impact all other cardiovascular risk factors eating right not only helps you manage your blood sugar but also helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure thus the role of diet is crucial in the development and prevention of cardiovascular disease cvdboth t2d and cvd are known to be influenced by dietary intake however there is little evidence from large and well characterized studies regarding the relationship between popular dietary patterns and cvd risk in populations with t2dhowever a study conducted on various dietary patterns such as mediterranean amed dietary approaches to stop hypertension dash and american diabetes association dietary recommendations ada have exhibited an inverse association with cvd and stroke while palaeolithic dietary pattern has shown no association with cvd or stroke another study was conducted to investigate the effect of various dietary patterns on 6031 postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes from the womens health initiative whi cohort with no history of cvd after a period of 21 years the study results stated that an increase in consumption of healthy fruits vegetables moderate consumption of protein lowfat dairy foods and cutting back on foods high in saturated fat cholesterol led to decrease in risk of incident cvd and strokethe results from the study thus emphasizes that diet plays a crucial role in occurrence of cvd in t2d patients a right diet can help maintain a healthy heart in t2d patients these simple changes to your lifestyle and diet can help you to manage your diabetes as well as reduce your risk of cvdeat healthy stay healthyref1 kristin m hirahatake etal diet quality and cardiovascular disease risk in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes the womens health initiative epilifestyle 2017 scientific sessions abstracts 2017 abstract 14the article has been contributed byprof a k baliarsinha md dm professor and head dept of endocrinology scb medical college cuttack odishaemail dranojkumaryahoocomdisclaimer the views