Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The Western diet is a modern dietary pattern characterized by high intakes of pre-packaged foods, refined grains, red meat, processed meat, high-sugar drinks, candy, sweets, fried foods, conventionally raised animal products, high-fat dairy products, and high-fructose products.
The present review aims to describe the effect of the Western pattern diet on the metabolism, inflammation, and antioxidant status; the impact on gut microbiota and mitochondrial fitness; the effect of on cardiovascular health, mental health, and cancer; and the sanitary cost of the Western diet.
To achieve this goal, a consensus critical review was conducted using primary sources, such as scientific articles, and secondary sources, including bibliographic indexes, databases, and web pages.
Finally, practical applications derived from this information are made. Keywords: inflammation, cardiovascular disease, mental disease, metabolic disease, cancer, microbiota, nutrition, physical activity. Like all species, contemporary humans are genetically adapted to the environment of their ancestors, which conditioned their genetic profile.
The problem with this is that these changes have occurred too recently on an evolutionary time scale for the human genome to adapt, thus leading to a discordance between our ancient biology and contemporary lifestyle patterns Figure 1 [ 2 ].
