It is well established that a poor diet can raise the risk of cardiovascular death. New research, however, sheds light on the leading dietary risk factors for death from cardiovascular disease, as well as how many cardiovascular deaths these risk factors equate to.

Share on Pinterest Researchers say that a poor diet contributes to more than 415,000 deaths from CVD in the U.S.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an umbrella term for conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. These include heart attack, heart disease, heart failure, and stroke.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CVD is the leading cause of death across the globe. In 2012, CVD was the cause of around 17.5 million global deaths, accounting for around 31 percent of all deaths that year.

How does diet contribute to the burden of CVD death in the United States?

Dr. Ashkan Afshin, of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and colleagues sought to answer this question with their new study.

Results were recently presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2017 Scientific Sessions, held in Portland, OR.