More evidence olive oil and veggies help the heart

By Alison McCook

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 30, 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It's no secret that eating well is good for both body and mind, so it may not come as a surprise that a new study finds women who eat more olive oil and leafy vegetables such as salads and cooked spinach are significantly less likely to develop heart disease.

A group of Italian researchers found that women who ate at least 1 serving of leafy vegetables per day were more than 40 percent less likely to develop heart disease over an average of eight years, relative to women who ate two or fewer portions of those vegetables each week.

It's not exactly clear why specifically leafy vegetables and olive oil may protect the heart, study author Dr. Domenico Palli of the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute in Florence told Reuters Health. "Probably the mechanisms responsible for the protective effect of plant-origin foods on cardiovascular diseases involve micronutrients such as folate, antioxidant vitamins and potassium, all present in green leafy vegetables."

Women who ate at least one daily serving (about two ounces) of leafy vegetables - such as raw lettuce or endives, or cooked vegetables like spinach or chard -- had a 46 percent lower risk of developing heart disease than women who ate at most two portions per week.

Both fruits and vegetables have been associated with heart benefits in past studies conducted elsewhere in Europe and in North America. The authors caution that the apparent lack of positive effect from high fruit consumption in their results may have something to do with a different attitude toward fruit in Italy. It is cheap, varied and easily available, so eating a lot of fruit is a widespread habit but it does not necessarily signal that the rest of someone's diet is as healthy, the authors wrote.

This is a shortened version, for the full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BT49320101230?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c0.136364:b40727278:z0