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Registration no. | CC23052 |
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Headquarters | 9 Kalmia Street, Ellerslie, Auckland |
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Key people | Chief Executive Clive Nelson |
Website | http://www.heartfoundation.org.nz |
The National Heart Foundation of New Zealand (known as the Heart Foundation) is a registered New Zealand heart health charity established in 1968. It funds research into heart disease, and provides education to promote healthy lifestyles to prevent heart disease. It has awarded over $78 million to fund research and specialist training for cardiologists since 1970. The funding has provided over 1,800 research and training grants awarded in New Zealand.
There are 18 [1] Heart Foundation branches located through New Zealand.
The Heart Foundation's work includes:
In 1968, a group of cardiologists established the National Heart Foundation with the aim of making an impact on New Zealand's heart disease epidemic. New Zealand's death rates due to heart disease were among the highest in the world at the time.[ citation needed ]
In 2015 the foundation released a television advertisement asking viewers "who gives the most realistic performance of a heart attack?", and showing several people acting as if they are experiencing a heart attack. In the end, the advertisement points to a person sitting in the background. It was designed to teach people that heart attacks are not as dramatic as what are portrayed in cinema. [2] The advertisement received multiple awards. [3]
The foundation recommends a diet low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fats (monosaturated and polyunsaturated) from nuts, seeds, plant oils, avocado and oily fish to reduce heart disease risk. They advice that 40% of the food trolley should be filled with fruit and vegetables. [4] The foundation recommends people to replace refined grains with whole grains and consume at least three servings of whole grains per day for heart health. [5]
In 2017, the foundation published a Dairy and Heart Health umbrella review which found an "overall neutral effect of dairy on cardiovascular risk for the general population". [6] Their position paper stated that "the evidence overall suggests dairy products can be included in a heart-healthy eating pattern and choosing reduced-fat dairy over full-fat dairy reduces risk for some, but not all, cardiovascular risk factors". [7]
In 2020, the foundation’s Expert Nutrition Policy (ENP) issued a position statement that concluded that high consumption of red meat increases risk of heart disease and stroke by 16% therefore one should aim to reduce consumption of red meat below 350g per week and replace meat with plant sources of protein. [8] [9]
The Heart Foundation is New Zealand's leading independent funder of heart research. Their funding enables medical researchers and cardiologists to undertake research projects and specialist training.[ citation needed ]
Heart Foundation donors funded a Chair of Heart Health position at Auckland University. [10] The Chair, filled by Professor Rob Doughty, was established to create a research hub to focus on improving understanding of heart disease, and to help improve heart health for New Zealanders.[ citation needed ]
In 2017 the Heart Foundation funded a two-year study into the link between heart disease and mental illness, [11] to be carried out by Professor Bart Ellenbroek and his research team at Victoria University, Wellington.[ citation needed ]
The Heart Foundation of New Zealand, with other organisations including the British Heart Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, funded research published in 2011 into the use of a polypill to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. [12] [13]
The Heart Foundation holds heart-help sessions that offer support and advice from guest speakers including health professionals. These sessions are run by regionally-based Heart Foundation staff.[ citation needed ]
The Heart Foundation runs a lottery as a fundraiser. It began on 26 December 1993. Jennian Homes [14] is the partner of the Heart Foundation Lottery.
The Heart Foundation Tick programme [15] was used to help New Zealanders find healthy food choices. The programme ran for 25 years and was retired in 2016. [16] An achievement of the Tick programme was its success in working with food companies to reduce the amount of salt in processed food products.[ citation needed ]
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as yogurt, cheese, milk and butter. A facility that produces dairy products is a dairy. Dairy products are consumed worldwide to varying degrees. Some people avoid some or all dairy products because of lactose intolerance, veganism, or other health reasons or beliefs.
A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched chain of carbon (C) atoms. Along the chain, some carbon atoms are linked by single bonds (-C-C-) and others are linked by double bonds (-C=C-). A double bond along the carbon chain can react with a pair of hydrogen atoms to change into a single -C-C- bond, with each H atom now bonded to one of the two C atoms. Glyceride fats without any carbon chain double bonds are called saturated because they are "saturated with" hydrogen atoms, having no double bonds available to react with more hydrogen.
The Mediterranean diet is a diet inspired by the eating habits and traditional food typical of southern Spain, southern Italy, and Crete, and formulated in the early 1960s. It is distinct from Mediterranean cuisine, which covers the actual cuisines of the Mediterranean countries, and from the Atlantic diet of northwestern Spain and Portugal. While inspired by a specific time and place, the "Mediterranean diet" was later refined based on the results of multiple scientific studies.
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. They are known for publishing guidelines on cardiovascular disease and prevention, standards on basic life support, advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), pediatric advanced life support (PALS), and in 2014 issued the first guidelines for preventing strokes in women. The American Heart Association is also known for operating a number of highly visible public service campaigns starting in the 1970s, and also operates several fundraising events.
A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based diets encompass a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. They do not need to be vegan or vegetarian, but are defined in terms of low frequency of animal food consumption.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a cardiovascular research charity in the United Kingdom. It funds medical research related to heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, and runs influencing work aimed at shaping public policy and raising awareness.
A polypill or single pill combination (SPC) is a type of drug combination consisting of a single drug product in pill form and thus combines multiple medications. The prefix "poly" means "multiple", referring to the multiplicity of distinct drugs in a given "pill". In precise usage, a pill is a polypill if it contains at least 4 drugs. An occasional synonym is combopill. A polypill is commonly targets treatment or prevention of chronic conditions.
A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy.
In gastronomy, red meat is commonly red when raw, in contrast to white meat, which is pale in color before cooking. In culinary terms, only flesh from mammals or fowl is classified as red or white. In nutritional science, red meat is defined as any meat that has more of the protein myoglobin than white meat. White meat is defined as non-dark meat from fish or chicken.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is a Canadian charity dedicated to advocacy, education, and the funding of research surrounding heart disease and stroke.
The National Heart Foundation of Australia is a charity established in 1959. Its activities have been funding cardiovascular research, supporting health professionals in their practice, developing health promotion activities, informing and educating the public and assisting people with cardiovascular disease. It describes its mission as "to reduce heart disease and improve the heart health and quality of life of all Australians through our work in Risk Reduction, Support, Care and Research."
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension or the DASH diet is a diet to control hypertension promoted by the U.S.-based National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The DASH diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods. It includes meat, fish, poultry, nuts, and beans, and is limited in sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, red meat, and added fats. In addition to its effect on blood pressure, it is designed to be a well-balanced approach to eating for the general public. DASH is recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a healthy eating plan. The DASH diet is one of three healthy diets recommended in the 2015–20 U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which also include the Mediterranean diet and a vegetarian diet. The American Heart Association (AHA) considers the DASH diet "specific and well-documented across age, sex and ethnically diverse groups."
Nathan Pritikin was an American inventor, engineer, nutritionist and longevity researcher. He promoted the Pritikin diet, a high-carbohydrate low-fat plant-based diet combined with regular aerobic exercise to prevent cardiovascular disease. The Pritikin diet emphasizes the consumption of legumes, whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables and non-fat dairy products with small amounts of lean meat, fowl and fish.
The Western pattern diet is a modern dietary pattern that is generally characterized by high intakes of pre-packaged foods, refined grains, red meat, processed meat, high-sugar drinks, candy and sweets, fried foods, industrially produced animal products, butter and other high-fat dairy products, eggs, potatoes, corn, and low intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, pasture-raised animal products, fish, nuts, and seeds.
Polycap is a specific five-in-one fixed dose combination polypill created by Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited of Ahmedabad, India that combines moderate levels of five different medications in a single, one-a-day pill aimed at reducing/preventing heart attacks and strokes.
Cancer Council Australia is a national, nonprofit organisation which aims to promote cancer-control policies and to reduce the illness caused by cancer in Australia. It advises various groups, including the government, on cancer-related issues, acts as an advocate for cancer patients and their friends, and is a major funding contributor towards health research, prevention and education.
Salim Yusuf is an Indian-born Canadian physician, the Marion W. Burke Chair in Cardiovascular Disease at McMaster University Medical School. He is a cardiologist and epidemiologist. Yusuf has criticized the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and disputes the scientific consensus on dietary sodium and saturated fat intake.
Aseem Malhotra is a controversial British cardiologist, health campaigner, author, and, contrary to public health consensus, an anti-mRNA vaccine activist. He contends that people should reduce sugar in their diet, adopt a low-carb and high-fat diet, and reduce their use of prescription drugs. He was the first science director of Action on Sugar in 2014, was listed as one of The Sunday Times 500 most influential people in 2016, and was twice recognized as one of the top fifty black and minority ethnic community member pioneers in the UK's National Health Service by the Health Service Journal. Malhotra is co-author of a book called The Pioppi Diet.
Rodney Thornton Jackson is a New Zealand medically trained epidemiologist who has had lead roles in publicly funded research focussing on systems to effectively identify risk factors in the epidemiology of chronic diseases, in particular cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This involved linking large cohort studies to regional and national electronic health databases and enabling the generation of new risk-prevention equations using web-based tools, such as the PREDICT model, to implement, monitor and improve risk assessment and management guidelines. Research on asthma in which Jackson participated influenced decisions made by the New Zealand Ministry of Health, and he has contributed to public debate on dietary risk factors for heart attacks and strokes. Following an evidence-based approach to identification of disparities in medical outcomes for different groups within the New Zealand population, Jackson took a position on racism in the medical sector. In 2020, he became a frequent commentator in the media on the approach of the New Zealand government to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 1999, Jackson has been professor of epidemiology at the University of Auckland.
Healthier Lives – He Oranga Hauora is one of New Zealand's eleven collaborative research programmes known as National Science Challenges. Running from 2015 to 2024, the focus of Healthier Lives National Science Challenge research is cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes in the New Zealand population, encompassing prevention, treatment, and reducing health inequity, and including precision medicine techniques, and culturally-centred health programmes for Māori and Pasifika.