Researchers led by Michael Miediema, senior consulting cardiologist and clinical investigator at the Minneapolis Heart Institute in Minneapolis, found that eating more than five servings of fruits and vegetables daily as young adults was associated with less calcified coronary artery plaque 20 years later, “which indicates a reduced risk of heart disease”, Reuters reported.
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A new study suggests that people who eat more fruits and veggies in youth are more likely to have a healthy heart 20 years later.
At study baseline in 1985, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire detailing their diet, smoking status, weight, cardiovascular risk factors – such as blood pressure – among other lifestyle factors.
The researchers examined 2,506 participants based on their daily consumption of fruits and vegetables and observed that women consumed an average of almost nine servings of daily fruits and vegetables, whereas men averaged more than seven daily servings.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends four servings of vegetables and three servings of fruits daily for active women and most men.
Twenty years later, participants underwent a Connecticut scan to check for buildup of calcium on the walls of the arteries of the heart, which is calculated as a coronary artery calcium score.
What you choose or chose to eat in your 20s could have a long-lasting impact on your heart’s health, according to a new study released Monday.
Among those in the bottom third, women averaged about three servings a day and men averaged about 2 1/2 servings. Coronary calcium is a good indicator of heart attack risk, since it measures the amount of calcium, one of the components that can build up in plaques that narrow heart vessels and can rupture and cause heart attacks.
Those who ate more fruits and vegetables, not surprisingly, also tended to eat healthier diets overall, including consuming more fish and healthier oils from nuts. The findings were published on October 26 in the journal Circulation. Further studies that track changes in the rate of calcium plaques would be helpful in solidifying the connection between early fruit and vegetable consumption and later heart disease.
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Although the study doesn’t prove that greater fruit-and-vegetable intake alone led to the healthier arteries, the results appear promising, they added.
