Behavioral Counseling to Promote a Healthful Diet and Physical Activity for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Adults

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This topic page summarizes the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation on behavioral counseling interventions to promote a healthful diet and physical activity for cardiovascular disease prevention in adults.

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Current Recommendation

Release Date: June 2012

• Population: General adult population without a known diagnosis of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, or cardiovascular disease.

  Recommendation: Although the correlation among healthful diet, physical activity, and the incidence of cardiovascular disease is strong, existing evidence indicates that the health benefit of initiating behavioral counseling in the primary care setting to promote a healthful diet and physical activity is small. Clinicians may choose to selectively counsel patients rather than incorporate counseling into the care of all adults in the general population.

  Considerations: Issues to consider include other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, a patient's readiness for change, social support and community resources that support behavioral change, and other health care and preventive service priorities.

  Potential Harms: Harms may include the lost opportunity to provide other services that have a greater health effect.

  Grade: C Recommendation.

Supporting Documents

Supporting Document	Related Items
Recommendation Statement (PDF File, 151 KB; PDF Help)	Clinical Summary (PDF File, 65 KB; PDF Help)
	Consumer Fact Sheet (PDF File, 69 KB; PDF Help)
Evidence Report (PDF File, 114 KB; PDF Help)	Evidence Synthesis (PDF File, 2.8 MB; PDF Help)

Current as of September 2012

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Internet Citation:

Behavioral Counseling to Promote a Healthful Diet and Physical Activity for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Adults, Topic Page. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsphys.htm

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