Vegetables may help arteries stay clear

Roman Bystrianyk · medicine forum Guru Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 454

Amy Norton, "Vegetables may help arteries stay clear", Reuters UK, June
20, 2006,
Link:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-06-19T122614Z_01_COL944716_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-VEGETABLES-ARTERIES-DC.XML

A healthy dose of vegetables every day may help keep the heart arteries
clear, a study in mice suggests. Researchers found that lab mice given
a diet full of broccoli, carrots, green beans, corn and peas developed
far less artery narrowing than those reared on a veggie-free diet.

For humans, the findings offer more support for the advice health
experts and mothers have long given: eat your vegetables.

Discounting French fries, most Americans aren't adequately heeding that
advice, noted the study's lead author, Dr. Michael R. Adams of Wake
Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The new research, he explained in an interview, adds to what's known
about the health benefits of vegetables by showing that they may thwart
the progression of atherosclerosis, a hardening and narrowing of
arteries that can lead to heart disease and stroke.

Some studies have found that people who eat more vegetables tend to
have fewer heart attacks, but studies such as those are not definitive.
The current study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, appears to be
the first to look at whether vegetable consumption can interfere with
the process of atherosclerosis.

Adams and his colleagues studied mice that were genetically altered and
bred to quickly develop the artery-clogging plaques that mark
atherosclerosis. Starting at 6 weeks of age, half of the mice went on
the veggie-rich diet -- with 30 percent of calories coming from
freeze-dried vegetables -- while the other half followed a
vegetable-free regimen.

Sixteen weeks later, the researchers found, the extent of
atherosclerosis was 38 percent less in the vegetable-fed mice.

The animals also had somewhat lower cholesterol and much lower levels
of a protein involved in inflammation -- which may help explain the
clearer arteries, according to Adams.

Chronic inflammation in the blood vessels is believed to contribute to
atherosclerosis, and research shows that plant compounds called
polyphenols have both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant powers.
Vegetables are also rich in vitamins that act as antioxidants, which
means they neutralize cell-damaging molecules called oxygen free
radicals.

The study focused on broccoli, green beans, peas, corn and carrots in
part because they are among the most commonly consumed vegetables in
the U.S. It's entirely possible, Adams said, that other vegetables have
similar benefits against atherosclerosis, but they have yet to be
studied.

General Mills Co., maker of the Green Giant brand of canned and frozen
vegetables, funded the study.

SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition, July/August 2006.

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