Role of Dietary Education in Preventing Cardiovascular Diseases Essay

Introduction

Dietary education plays an important role in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. These include myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmic disorders, and vascular and lipid disorders (Musunuru et al., 2020). Thanks to dietary education, patients could independently nourish their bodies with nutritious and healthy food. It will not only improve the condition of the cardiovascular system and reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, but also reduce the risk of complications in existing ones.

Since preventing the disease’s manifestation tends to be easier than managing its exacerbations, the change has to occur at the earliest care level: the outpatient setting. If dietary education is implemented at the first sign of risk factors, its effect will be the strongest. Thus, the current project will aim at integrating dietary education into the outpatient setting.

Setting and Context for Observing the Identified Problem

The issue of cardiovascular disease is considered one of the top deadly diseases. According to the WHO, 17.5 million people die of cardiovascular disease every year, accounting for 31% of all deaths worldwide. Moreover, approximately 7.4 million people die of coronary heart disease, and 6.7 million people die of stroke (Sharifi-Rad et al., 2020).

Worse of all, one-third of these deaths are considered premature, indicating that almost six million people could still have many years ahead of them (Sharifi-Rad et al., 2020). For instance, more than half of adults with hypertension receive treatment despite it being the major risk factor for cardiovascular exacerbation (WHO, 2023). Although there are many different strategies for preventing cardiovascular diseases, a balanced consumption of healthy food plays a key role.

Changing eating habits to a healthy diet will help reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, hypertension, and other cardiovascular problems. Conversely, consuming overly processed foods increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (Srour et al., 2019). In this context, people who ate more plant foods and less animal foods had a lower risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the general population (Kim et al., 2019).

The list of dietary recommendations further includes dietary recommendations such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, and other healthy sources of protein, which can protect against heart state exacerbations (Feinstein et al., 2019; Soliman, 2019). This is due to the mechanisms that lower blood cholesterol levels using fiber. That is, simply reducing cholesterol intake is not as effective as following a certain dietary pattern. They are made in the form of various nutritional models for every taste and culture (Shan et al., 2020). This was developed because foods are not absorbed in the body one by one, but in combinations, so dietary models more accurately reproduce real-life scenarios.

Role of Nurses in Addressing the Problem

Nurses play a key role in caring for patients and helping them recover. Understandably, cooperation with nutritionists will help speed up the process and improve the quality of patient care, and brochures with detailed descriptions and explanations of nutritional recommendations can be used to transfer knowledge to patients. However, it is the nurses who are expected to initiate and facilitate patient learning.

Specifically, nurses can pass on knowledge and recommendations to facilitate the recovery process (Vasiloglou et al., 2019). The implication of this is that nurses will have to start the patient education process by providing the initial nutrition information and referring them to dietary professionals. Thus, the application of nutrition education to nursing practice is of direct importance in influencing the health of society. In other words, by organizing nurses’ training, seminars, and lectures, nutrition education can be successfully tailored to outpatient care.

Conclusion

Overall, dietary education plays a significant role in preventing cardiovascular disease by improving health. As an integral link between medicine and the patient, nurses need to be knowledgeable and pass this nutritional knowledge on to society. A balanced, healthy diet and regular consumption of fruits and vegetables reduce blood cholesterol levels, which mitigates the development of cardiovascular diseases. Training, seminars, and lectures for medical staff, as well as brochures describing nutritional instructions for patients, are the best ways to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease.

References

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