heart disease claims 610000 lives in us each year healthcardiovascular deaths linked to poor dietary choices a numbermarch 13 2017cardiovascular disease claims 610000 lives in the united states each year it is the leading cause of mortality nationwide accounting for one in every four deathsa new analysis funded by the bill and melinda gates foundation shows that a substantial portion of these deaths could be prevented by healthier eatingin 2015 more than 400000 deaths from cardiovascular causes were linked to unhealthy diets according to the research presented at a meeting of the american heart association last week in portland orethe biggest factors were a deficit of nuts and seeds vegetables whole grains and fruits and an excess of salt diets low in omega3 fatty acids found in seafood and high in transfat processed meat or sugary beverages also played a roleinternationally and nationally the focus is on the consumption of unhealthy foods like sugarsweetened beverages said ashkan afshin an acting assistant professor at the university of washingtons institute for health metrics and evaluation and coauthor of the studybut when it comes to the burden of disease he added some of the leading risk factors are not high intake of unhealthy foods but low intake of healthy foodsthe results suggest that an integrated approach to healthy eating is possible said linda van horn a spokeswoman for the american heart association and a professor of preventive medicine at northwestern university who was not involved in the studytypically the higher the diet is in natural not processed plantbased foods the lower the sodium intake is she said so by eating more of the favored foods the detrimental intakes of sodium as well as transfat and saturated fat and sugar are lowerlowquality diets contributed to the deaths of 222100 men and 193400 women the new study estimated mens higher consumption of sodium is one driver of this difference dr afshin said over all the results of the study were consistent with global patterns