EHN Highlights the Role of Nutrition in Preventing CVDs at European Parliament Event

On 4 February 2025, in recognition of World Cancer Day, the European Heart Network (EHN) participated in a pivotal event at the European Parliament focusing on the role of nutrition in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and cancer.

Marleen Kestens, Prevention Policies Manager at EHN, spoke at a high-level roundtable discussing sustainable, healthy diets as a crucial tool for preventing NCDs. She underscored the alarming statistic that unhealthy diets are the leading cause of cardiovascular disease, the number one killer in Europe. Notably, 80% of CVD cases could be prevented by addressing key risk factors such as poor diet, tobacco use, physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption.

Several striking facts were presented during the discussion:

• Dietary risks contribute to over 50% of CVD-related deaths in men and 40% in women.
• High salt intake is the primary dietary risk for heart health, contributing to hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and stroke.
• Poor diet remains the biggest contributor to ill health, disease, and premature death.

To combat these challenges, the European Heart Network (EHN) advocates for transformative policies aimed at making healthy food choices the default option, such as:

• A shift towards plant-based diets by promoting fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, while reducing the consumption of animal-based products, particularly red meat.
• The implementation of harmonised, colour-coded, front-of-pack nutrition labelling to improve food environments.
• Public procurement reforms to ensure healthier food choices in schools, hospitals, and public institutions.
• Encouraging food reformulation to reduce salt, sugar, and fats while increasing fibre content.

In her closing remarks, Marleen Kestens reinforced the importance of population-wide interventions, which offer significant human and economic benefits and a strong return on investment. She emphasised that such interventions must not place the responsibility solely on consumers. For example, since 80% of salt consumption comes from processed food purchased in supermarkets rather than from home cooking, it is unfair to place the burden of salt reduction on individual consumers.

The event, co-hosted by MEPs Manuela Ripa (Germany, EPP), Tilly Metz (Luxembourg, the Greens/EFA), Biljana Borzan (Croatia, S&D), and Laurent Castillo (France, EPP), also underscored the importance of a unified health voice advocating for better policies on healthy food, including the promotion of plant-based diets. This aligns with a broader ‘One Health‘ approach that integrates human, animal, and environmental health.

The European Heart Network calls for more action to address the growing burden of NCDs in Europe and to place public health at the core of EU agricultural and food policies.

To view Marleen Kestens’ presentation on cardiovascular diseases in the EU and the role of nutrition in prevention, please download here.