By Suzanne Rostler

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As the growing girth of America weighs heavily on the nation's health, a national medical group has expanded its dietary recommendations to address burgeoning rates of obesity.

The American Heart Association's new dietary guidelines emphasize general dietary patterns over numbers and percentages. The goals of the new recommendations are to help people maintain a healthy body weight, eat a diet that is healthy overall, maintain a healthy cholesterol level, and maintain healthy blood pressure.

Obesity has been shown to raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and a weight loss of just 5% to 10% can reduce risk factors such as high blood pressure. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America.

``Weight gain in our society is a major issue and impacts heart disease directly and indirectly,'' Dr. Robert H. Eckel, chairman of the nutrition committee that devised the new guidelines, announced at a press conference held on Thursday.

He stressed that while the recommended percentages of each food group have not changed since 1996, the new guidelines tell people to consume a variety of foods from the major food groups, including fat-free and low-fat dairy products, lean meats and poultry.

The previous recommendations instructed individuals to consume less than 30% of total calories from fat of which saturated fat should account for less than 10%; 55% to 60% of total calories from complex carbohydrates; and about 30% from lean protein sources.

``We are emphasizing overall eating patterns over numbers. By doing that, individuals should be able to achieve the guidelines (for specific percentages) that are still in effect,'' according to Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University.

The new recommendations will be published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, and are listed on the group's Web site (www.americanheart.org).

Another important change is the recommendation that individuals eat two servings of fatty fish such as tuna and salmon, or canned fish such as sardines or tuna, each week. This recommendation is based on a growing body of scientific research showing that omega-3 fatty acids found abundantly in some types of fish can lower a person's risk of heart disease.

Similarly, studies showing that eggs--specifically egg yolks--do not raise cholesterol in everyone led the American Heart Association to allow healthy people to eat up to one egg yolk a day if overall dietary cholesterol is limited.

Other guidelines include limiting cholesterol to 300 milligrams (mg) a day for most people and 200 mg a day for people with heart disease or high blood pressure; limiting trans fatty acids found in processed foods such as cookies, crackers and margarine; limiting salt to less than 6 grams (about 1 teaspoon) a day; and limiting alcohol to one drink daily for women and two drinks daily for men.

People are also encouraged to exercise by walking briskly for at least 30 minutes per day to burn calories.

Eckel noted that portion sizes have also contributed to obesity rates in America, and stressed that low-fat foods are not necessarily low in calories.

(From Yahoo)