--- title: Diet and Chronic Disease description: This subject explores the relationship between dietary patterns and the prevention or management of long-term illnesses. Learners will understand how nutrition influences conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension, and how to design therapeutic dietary interventions. category: health-medicine subcategory: nutrition difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/diet-and-chronic-disease --- # Diet and Chronic Disease This subject explores the relationship between dietary patterns and the prevention or management of long-term illnesses. Learners will understand how nutrition influences conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension, and how to design therapeutic dietary interventions. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 1 Courses • 6 Websites • 2 Papers ## Websites ### 1. Examine.com Independent research database that summarises the scientific evidence on dietary supplements, nutrients and diets, rating effects by outcome and study quality. Readers can check what trials actually show about a supplement's benefits, dosage and safety before acting on nutrition claims. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://examine.com/ **Tags:** supplements, nutrition-science, evidence-based-nutrition, research-summaries ### 2. DASH Eating Plan (NHLBI) The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's guide to DASH, the eating pattern tested in NIH-funded blood pressure trials. Covers daily and weekly serving targets by calorie level, sodium reduction steps, and food substitutions for hypertension management. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dash-eating-plan **Tags:** dash-diet, hypertension, blood-pressure, sodium-reduction, heart-health ### 3. Disease Prevention — The Nutrition Source (Harvard T.H. Chan) **Author:** Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition Harvard's nutrition department maintains this reference on how dietary patterns relate to heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and obesity, with each section tied to the underlying cohort studies and trials rather than to a branded diet. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/disease-prevention/ **Tags:** nutrition, dietary-patterns, chronic-disease-prevention, cardiovascular-disease, type-2-diabetes ### 4. cdc.gov/chronicdisease CDC's Chronic Disease page provides evidence-based information, data, and resources on preventing and managing chronic diseases. It includes guidelines, surveillance data, program tools, and materials for clinicians, public health professionals, and communities. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://cdc.gov/chronicdisease **Tags:** websites, health-medicine, health-and-wellness ### 5. NutritionFacts.org **Author:** Michael Greger Nonprofit site founded by physician Michael Greger that summarises peer-reviewed nutrition studies in short videos, articles and podcasts, searchable by food and disease. It argues consistently for plant-based eating, so readers can follow the research behind that position and check its sources. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://nutritionfacts.org **Tags:** plant-based-diet, nutrition-research, chronic-disease-prevention, evidence-summaries ### 6. eatright.org EatRight.org is the consumer site of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, offering evidence-based nutrition guidance, healthy eating tips, meal planning ideas, and resources to locate a registered dietitian. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://eatright.org **Tags:** websites, health-medicine, health-and-wellness ## Courses ### 1. Introduction to Food and Health Around the world, we find ourselves facing global epidemics of obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and other predominantly diet-related diseases. To address these public health crises, we urgently need to explore innovative strategies for promoting healthful eating. There is strong evidence that global increases in the consumption of heavily processed foods, coupled with cultural shifts away from the preparation of food in the home, have contributed to high rates of preventable, chronic disease. In this course, learners will be given the information and practical skills they need to begin optimizing the way they eat. This course will shift the focus away from reductionist discussions about nutrients and move, instead, towards practical discussions about real food and the environment in which we consume it. By the end of this course, learners should have the tools they need to distinguish between foods that will support their health and those that threaten it. In addition, we will present a compelling rationale for a return to simple home cooking, an integral part of our efforts to live longer, healthier lives. View the trailer for the course here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7x1aaZ03xU **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/food-and-health **Tags:** nutrition, healthy-eating, home-cooking, processed-food, public-health ## Books ### 1. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating **Author:** Walter C. Willett, P.J. Skerrett Willett, longtime chair of Harvard's nutrition department, explains what the Nurses' Health Study and other decades-long cohorts show about fats, carbohydrates, protein, and alcohol in relation to disease risk, and where federal dietary advice diverged from that evidence. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501164775?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** nutrition, dietary-fats, carbohydrates, nutritional-epidemiology, chronic-disease-prevention ### 2. How Not to Die **Author:** Michael Greger, Gene Stone Physician Michael Greger's case, organised chapter by chapter around fifteen leading causes of death, that a whole-food plant-based diet prevents and can reverse chronic disease, followed by his Daily Dozen checklist. Readers see the cited evidence behind plant-based advocacy and can weigh it critically. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1509852506?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** plant-based-diet, chronic-disease-prevention, heart-disease, diabetes, nutrition-research ### 3. Diet, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases **Author:** Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation (Technical Report Series 916, 2003) reviewing evidence linking diet and physical activity to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, dental disease, and osteoporosis, and setting population nutrient intake goals for fats, sugars, and salt. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/924120916X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, health-medicine, nutrition ## Papers ### 1. Nutrition Therapy for Adults With Diabetes or Prediabetes: A Consensus Report **Author:** Alison B. Evert et al. American Diabetes Association consensus report on nutrition therapy for diabetes and prediabetes. Compares eating patterns including low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean, examines macronutrient distribution, weight management, and interaction with glucose-lowering medication, with an evidence grade attached to each recommendation. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7011201/ **Tags:** diabetes, prediabetes, medical-nutrition-therapy, low-carbohydrate-diets, clinical-guidelines ### 2. 2026 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health (AHA Scientific Statement) **Author:** Alice H. Lichtenstein et al. American Heart Association statement published in Circulation in May 2026, updating its 2021 guidance to nine features of a heart-healthy dietary pattern. The hub links the full text, a summary document, and expert videos on alcohol and ultraprocessed foods. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001435?utm_campaign=sciencenews25-26&utm_source=science-news&utm_medium=phd-link&utm_content=phd-3-31-26 **Tags:** cardiovascular-health, dietary-patterns, heart-disease-prevention, ultraprocessed-foods, clinical-guidelines --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/diet-and-chronic-disease