According to a new study, latinos meet more heart-healthy goals than other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Researchers gathered data from 16,000 Hispanic-American adults of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Dominican, and Central and South American origins to determine if they met the American Heart Association’s seven cardiovascular health goals for 2020.
The results from the study found that 5 percent of Latinos met six of the seven goals, which is higher than the national average of less than 4 percent. About 53 percent had ideal blood pressure, which is nearly 22 percent higher than the national rate. Meanwhile, only 2 percent of Hispanic Americans ate an ideal heart-healthy diet, however, and less than 25 percent had an ideal body mass index (BMI) compared to the national rate of 32 percent.