Fewer than 7% of American adults have good cardiovascular health

According to research led by a team at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, fewer than 7% of U.S. adults have good cardiovascular health, a devastating health crisis that requires urgent action. There was work Published In the magazine Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The team also includes researchers from Tufts Medical Center.

The consequences of poor health among American adults go beyond individual health. “The implications for national health care spending and the financial health of the entire economy are enormous,” O’Hearn said. “These conditions are largely preventable. We have public and clinical health interventions and policies to deal with these problems.”

Friedman School researchers are actively working on many of these solutions, O’Hearn said, including initiatives such as Food is medicine (Using good nutrition to prevent and treat disease); incentives and subsidies to make healthy eating more accessible; consumer education for healthy eating; and private sector engagement to drive healthy and equitable food systems. “There are many ways to do this,” O’Hearn said. “We need a multi-pronged approach, and we need the political will and will to do that.”

“This is a health crisis we’ve been facing for some time,” O’Hearn said. “There is now a growing economic, social and ethical imperative to pay more attention to this problem than to receive it.”