An omission in guidelines. Cardiovascular disease prevention should also focus on dietary policies for healthcare facilities

• Published in: Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 18 - 21
• Main Authors: de Frel, Daan L., Assendelft, Willem J.J., Hondmann, Sara, Janssen, Veronica R., Molema, Johanna J.W., Trines, Serge A., de Vries, Iris A.C., Schalij, Martin J., Atsma, Douwe E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2023
• Subjects: Behaviour; Cardiovascular Diseases - prevention & control; Delivery of Health Care; Diet; Guidelines; Humans; Lifestyle medicine; Policy; Policy making; Prevention; Risk Factors; Policy making; Prevention; Lifestyle medicine; Diet; Behaviour; Guidelines
• ISSN: 0261-5614; 1532-1983
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2022.11.010

Suboptimal diet is a major modifiable risk factor in cardiovascular disease. Governments, individuals, educational institutes, healthcare facilities and the industry all share the responsibility to improve dietary habits. Healthcare facilities in particular present a unique opportunity to convey the importance of healthy nutrition to patients, visitors and staff. Guidelines on cardiovascular disease do include policy suggestions for population-based approaches to diet in a broad list of settings. Regrettably, healthcare facilities are not explicitly included in this list. The authors propose to explicitly include healthcare facilities as a setting for policy suggestions in the current and future ESC Guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice.