Eating a cup of raw (or half a cup of cooked) nitrate-rich vegetables every day will significantly lower the risk of heart disease, according to a new study.
Leafy greens, such as kale, spinach, watercress, and beetroot are rich in nitrates which is known to be good for you.
Researchers from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, looked at data from over 50,000 people residing in Denmark taking part in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study over a 23-year period and found that people who consumed the most nitrate-rich vegetables had about a 2.5 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure and between 12 to 26 per cent lower risk of heart disease.
“The greatest reduction in risk was for peripheral artery disease (26 per cent), a type of heart disease characterised by the narrowing of blood vessels of the legs, however we also found people had a lower risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure,” said lead researcher Dr Catherine Bondonno, of the university’s Institute for Nutrition Research.
“People don’t need to be taking supplements to boost their nitrate levels because the study showed that one cup of leafy green vegetables each day is enough to reap the benefits for heart disease.
“We did not see further benefits in people who ate higher levels of nitrate rich vegetables.”
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally, taking around 17.9 million lives each year.
Good to know you can take some positive action then.
