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

• DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2022.11.010
• Publication Date: 2022-11-17T16:53:50Z
• Authors: Daan L. de Frel; Willem J.J. Assen...; Sara Hondmann; Veronica R. Janssen; Johanna J.W. Molema; Serge A. Trines; Iris A.C. de Vries; Martin J. Schalij; Douwe E. Atsma
• Keywords: Prevention; Radboud University Medical Center; Radboudumc 18: Healthcare improvement science Primary and Community Care; Radboudumc 18: Healthcare improvement science 18-Primary and Community Care; Guidelines; Diet; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Policy; 0302 clinical medicine; Cardiovascular Diseases; Risk Factors; Policy making; Humans; Behaviour; Delivery of Health Care; Lifestyle medicine

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.