Eating away a heart attack - how your diet can help prevent cardiac problems

Eating healthy for a healthy heart

The link between diet and heart disease is well known. But did you know you could actually eat foods which can help prevent a heart attack?

A large, new study of women conducted at Institute of Environmental Medicine, in Stockholm, Sweden and published in the latest issue of American Journal of Medicine shows that diets high in antioxidants contained in most fruits and vegetables

The finding showed that women who consumed about seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day had a 20% decrease in heart attacks compared with women who consumed the average amount of 2 ½ servings a day. 

Dr. Alicja Wolk, the study’s lead researcher, pointed out that antioxidant supplements did not compare with the effectiveness of real foods. There is even evidence that taking antioxidant supplements without consuming fruits and vegetables might lead to increased levels of mortality.

"In contrast to supplements of single antioxidants, the dietary total antioxidant capacity reflects all present antioxidants, including thousands of compounds, all of them in doses present in our usual diet, and even takes into account their synergistic effects," commented Dr. Wolk.