What You Need to Eat to Fight Heart Disease

Friday was “wear red day”; an event sponsored by the American Heart Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an effort to raise heart disease awareness in women.  The campaign, which has been dubbed American Heart Month, extends throughout the entire February. 
 
According to the CDC website, heart disease is the leading cause of death among women; to “fight the good fight” against this quiet killer, the agency advises that women get plenty of physical activity, eat healthy foods and be smoke-free.
 
The site further advises women to "Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables every day. Limit foods and drinks high in calories, sugar, salt, fat, and alcohol content. Choose healthy snacks such as trail mix, an apple, or low-fat cheese."
 
Although this advice is good, a health observer has wisely suggested that the CDC be more specific by giving details on heart healthy foods.
 
Regardless of the specificity of the CDC website, Foodconsumer.org has gathered the highlights of stories that emphasize heart health.  We’ve reported extensively on diet and heart risk in the past years. Below is summary of some studies reported earlier, which we believe may food consumers make heart healthy choices:
 
 
1) Taking vitamin K2 supplements or eating lots of green vegetables may help cut risk for coronary heart disease, a study in the Sept 2009 issue of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases suggests.
 
Specifically, intake of each 10 microg/d vitamin K2 was associated with a nine percent reduction in coronary heart disease.
 
 
2) Drinking green tea may reduce risk of heart disease in men by specifically reducing coronary atherosclerosis, a condition that leads to other heart diseases, heart attack and stroke, a new study suggests.
 
Additionally, it is assumed that green tea may also benefit women as well.
 
The study, which was published in Dec 17, 2009 issue of the journal Circulation shows that green tea consumption is associated with a 38 percent reduced risk of coronary atherosclerosis.
 
 
3) Maintaining high levels of vitamin D in the blood helps reduce risk of stroke, heart disease and death; the benefits are significant, even among healthy people who’ve never had heart disease.
 
People with very low levels of vitamin D were 77 percent more likely to die, while 45 percent were more likely to suffer coronary artery disease; 78 percent were more likely to have a stroke than those with normal levels of the sunshine vitamin, the study found.
 
Patients with very low levels of vitamin D were twice as likely to suffer heart failure than those who had normal vitamin D levels.
 
The study was conducted by researchers at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City and presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Conference on Monday, Nov. 16 in Orlando, Florida.
 
 
4) Consuming large quantities of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids may explain low levels of heart disease in Japan, according to a study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
 
The study also found that third- and fourth-generation Japanese Americans had similar or even higher levels of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, indicating that diet plays a role in heart risk.
 
The research was reported in the Aug. 5 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
 
 
5) A study published Jan 21 on the website of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that reducing daily intake of salt by 3 grams may reduce new cases of coronary heart disease, stroke, and myocardial infarction, drastically.
 
Increased intake of minerals such as potassium and possibly magnesium and calcium through diet may reduce the risk of high blood pressure, and lower blood pressure in people with hypertension, a new study suggests.
 
Additionally, increased intake of these minerals may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, according to the study published in a supplement appearing with the July issue of The Journal of Clinical Hypertension.
 
Touted by researchers for years, the Mediterranean diet, which includes fish, cereals and wine, was found to be the most heart-healthy way to eat, according to a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
 
Rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins C, E and folate, this is the only diet associated with a lower risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), say researchers led by Andrew Mente from the Population Health Research Institute.
 
 
6) Taking midday naps regularly may significantly reduce the risk of death from coronary heart disease, according to a new study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Athens Medical School (UAMS) in Greece.
 
Subjects who took a nap, regardless of the frequency and duration, were one third less likely to die from heart attack or stroke than those who did not, the researchers reported in the February 12, 2007 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.
 
 
7) Eating lots of tart cherries on a daily basis may help protect against heart disease and diabetes, according to a study presented Sunday at the Experimental Biology 2008 meeting in San Diego, CA.
 
The animal study showed rats fed tart cherry powder had low levels of inflammation, body fat, weight gain and blood cholesterol.
 
For the study, researchers from the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center fed rats whole tart cherry powder mixed into a high fat diet.
 
They found the rats on the cherry diet did not gain as much weight as rats that did not receive cherries. 
 
They also found that cherry-diet rats had low levels of inflammation, a condition that has been directly linked to heart disease and diabetes; they also maintained lower levels of cholesterol and triglycerides than the other rats.
 
 
8) Whole grains are already known to be heart healthy.   A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition demonstrated that high intake of whole grain foods may improve blood vessel health and reduce heart disease risk.
 
In the study, 1178 men and women were surveyed using a semi-quantitative 114-item food-frequency questionnaire; the thickness of the carotid artery was measured at the start of the study and at the end of the five-year follow-up.
 
The researchers analyzed the two sets of data to explore any possible correlation between the varieties of foods and carotid artery thickness.   A lower value in carotid artery thickness indicates a lower risk of atherosclerosis.
 
Whole grain consumption was strongly correlated with a lower common carotid artery medial thickness, or a lower risk of atherosclerosis, researchers reported. 
 
 
9) Walnuts may prove to be more beneficial to the health of the arteries and the heart than olive oil to consumers following a Mediterranean-type diet, according to a small Spanish study. However, the researchers cautioned that eating walnuts did not mean that they could indulge in any kind of foods.
 
Walnuts are a rich source of omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Omega-3 fatty acids are known to prevent many types of diseases, including cancer. In the current study, researchers tried to test the effect of walnuts and olive oil on arteries after the consumption of a fatty meal.
 
The researchers from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona enrolled 12 healthy men and women, as well as 12 patients with high cholesterol for the study. The subjects were randomly assigned a high-fat meal containing 80 g fat, 35 per cent of which was saturated fat. The meal was later supplemented with 40 grams of walnuts or 25 grams of olive oil.
 
The participants followed their diet for a week after which they were switched over to the opposite diet. That is, the group consuming walnuts were given olive oil and vice versa.

By Jimmy downs and editing by rachel Stockton

(The article contains content from articles by others)