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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Prevent Heart Disease By Veggies And Fruits! Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Every year, it takes away the lives of about 600,000 Americans. Fortunately, heart disease prevention might be as easy as eating more veggies and fruits. Researchers from the Minneapolis Heart Institute found that young women who reported eating the most fruits and vegetables in their 20s were 40 percent less likely to have dangerously blocked arteries in their 40s. Their findings were presented at the American College of Cardiology 63rd Annual Scientific Session & Expo CME held between March 29 and 31, 2014 in Washington. Previous studies have found that middle-aged adults whose diet consists of a high proportion of fruits and vegetables are less likely to have a heart attack or stroke, but the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption during young adulthood and heart disease later in life was less clear. The new study aimed to evaluate the association between dietary intake of fruits and vegetables in young adults and the presence of coronary artery calcification (CAC) 20 years later. CAC scores were obtained using a CT scan and it could provide a direct measure of the amount of plaque in the coronary arteries, and it is currently the best predictor for future heart attacks.
Data was taken from 2,508 participants from the ongoing government-sponsored Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which was used to evaluate how heart disease develops throughout adulthood. Beginning in the mid-1980s with a group of men and women aged between 18 and 30, CARDIA has collected extensive data on medical, socioeconomic, psychosocial and behavioral characteristics. Starting in 1985, the participants filled out detailed questionnaire on their consumption of different fruits and vegetables and the number of servings they had eaten in the past month. The average number of servings of fruits and vegetables per day was then calculated and adjusted to a 2,000-calorie diet. They had CAC measured in 2005-2006 (year 20) using electron-beam computed tomography. Women who reported consuming the most fruits and vegetables (8 to 9 servings a day for a 2,000-calorie diet) in their 20s were 40 percent less likely to have calcified plaque in their arteries in their 40s compared with those who ate the least amount (3 to 4 servings a day) during the same time period. Such relationship held true no matter what else these women ate or drank, be it red meat, fish or even sugary sodas. It also did not matter whether the women changed their eating habits later in life. Interestingly, the same effect was not observed for the men and the researchers could not figure it out. It might be because there was insufficient number of men in the study - more than half the participants were women. However, the researchers warned that the public should not take their findings to imply fruit and vegetable intake is not important for men. Perhaps, the findings might just suggest fruit and vegetable intake might not be as protective in men as it is in women. As a matter of fact, there are several other studies have already shown clearly that people who ate more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of not only heart disease, but of many types of cancer, and they have a lower overall risk of dying early from any cause. Last year, a big study found that a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables, olive oil and a little wine could actually lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 30 percent, in men and women. All these findings did confirm the concept that plaque development is a lifelong process, and that process could be slowed down with a healthy diet at a young age. But in order to determine the best ways to raise compliance with a diet high in fruits and vegetables in the American population, it is important to conduct more studies to further define the relationship between fruits, vegetables and cardiovascular disease in men and women.
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