Vegetables may Stop Artery Hardening

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A recent study from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., reveals a diet high in vegetables may decrease the hardening of arteries.

Researchers looked at the effects of a 30-percent vegetable diet compared to a non-vegetable diet in a group of mice bred to quickly develop atherosclerosis, the formation of plague on blood vessel walls that causes decreased blow flow.

The mice were fed the two diets for 16 weeks, and researchers approximated the degree of atherosclerosis by measuring cholesterol levels.

Researchers found the mice that ate the vegetable diet had 38-percent smaller plaques within their vessels than the control group.

"Although the pathways involved remain uncertain, the results indicate that a diet rich in green and yellow vegetables inhibits the development of hardening of the arteries and may reduce the risk of heart disease," said head researcher Michael Adams, D.V.M.

Data also revealed the mice on the vegetable diet had a 37-percent decrease in an indicator of inflammation, which is connected to atherosclerosis development.

Adams noted, "While everyone knows that eating more vegetables is supposed to be good for you, no one had shown before that it can actually inhibit the development of atherosclerosis." He added, "This suggests how a diet high in vegetables may help prevent heart attacks and strokes."

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SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition, 2006;136