The 10 Most Important Five-A-Day Foods For Heart Health

The Huffington Post

The 10 Most Important Five-A-Day Foods For Heart Health

Many of us grew up hearing how important it is to eat five portions of fruits and/or vegetables a day. But if you’re looking to boost your heart health in particular, you might want to pay attention to which fruits and veggies make the cut. New research, published in Food And Function , found even those people who reach their recommended daily fruit and vegetable consumption might be running low in an important nutrient called flavanols. What are flavanols? These are chemical compounds, also known as flavan-3-ols or catechins, which are found in various plants and appear to act as antioxidants, which are linked to better heart and brain health. They appear in cocoa, grapes, plums, and some teas, as well as other fruits and vegetables. What’s the ideal flavanol intake a day? We should eat 500mg of flavanols a day to see heart health benefits, research suggests. This is why the Food And Function study sought to examine our current fruit and vegetable consumption guidelines. Even though people might assume you’d get enough flavanols from eating your recommended fruit and veg amount, the researchers wanted to see whether that was really true. After looking at data and urine samples from over 30,000 participants, this paper found that only 25% of those who stuck to recommended dietary guidelines were actually hitting that flavanol goal. Overall, fewer than one in five participants met the target in this study. “These results show that adherence to current dietary guidelines is not sufficient to address flavanol intake in amounts shown to significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular death in the COSMOS trial,” the paper reads. The Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study ( COSMOS ) trial was a randomised controlled trial that sought to find out how cocoa extract and/or a daily multivitamin might affect our heart health. This is where researchers pulled the 500mg a day flavanol recommendation from. Which fruits and vegetables might be most important for heart health? Part of the problem, the researchers said, is that not all fruits and vegetables carry as many flavanols as others. That means some are more effective at helping you reach your heart health goals. According to the researchers’ investigations, the fruits and legumes (and tea) highest in flavanols were: Plums (500g) – 450mg flavanols, or almost your daily recommendation, Cranberries (250g) – 300mg flavanols, Blackberries (200g) – 250mg flavanols, Green tea (250ml) – 200mg flavanols, Broad beans (80g) – 140mg flavanols, Cherries (400g) – 130mg flavanols, Apple (one medium, skin on) – 110mg flavanols, Strawberries (200g) – 90mg flavanols, Blueberries (150g punnet) – 80mg flavanols, Pinto beans (two tablespoons) – 70mg flavanols. Aiming for five-a-day is still positive The British Nutrition Foundation said that the best approach to a healthy diet is balance, with plenty of fibre , enough protein, and five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. This study noted that even though not all of the members who ate their five-a-day met their flavanol guidelines, they were still more likely to have more of the beneficial compound than those who ate fewer fresh produce. And some research has found that getting your five-a-day still has longevity benefits, including a reduced risk of death from cancer, respiratory diseases, and heart disease. Related... The Fruit Linked To Better Heart Health And Slower Brain Ageing A Professor Ranked The 41 Best Fruits And Veg To Fight Disease I Just Learned What A Clove Is Made From – And It's Not A Fruit, Root, Leaf, Or Veg

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