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Souped up heart

Souped up heart if you are not a vegetarian living on a reduced diet, don't worry. That unpalatable spinach has something in common with sweet orange juice, and asparagus with chicken liver. It's called folate (or folic acid), a vitamin that helps prevent heart attack. And never mind that you don't know the difference between plantains and bananas. Both contain the other essential vitamin that reduces the risk of developing heart problems by half, vitamin B-6. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows a direct link between consumption of these vitamins and protection from heart disease.

The research, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health ( hsph ) at Harvard, usa , concentrated on over 80,000 women nurses, but its results are expected to hold true for men as well. The study suggests that eating more leafy vegetables, whole grains, potatoes, chicken, fish and bananas, and drinking more orange juice dramatically reduces the risk of coronary disease. According to the researchers, adults should consume more than 400 microgrammes of folate and more than 3 mg B-6 to provide maximum protection from heart attack.

According to current standards of the us National Academy of Sciences' Food and Nutrition Board, the Recommended Dietary Allowance ( rda ) for adults other than pregnant women is 180 microgrammes of folate and 1.6 mg of B-6. Even if the recommendations are revised upwards, following the study, any adverse effects of these vitamins is unlikely, since B vitamins are water soluble and do not accumulate in the body.

Says Eric Rimm of the hsph , who headed the study: "The exciting news is that a substantial reduction in risk can be achieved easily without a dramatic change in diet. You don't have to give up everything you eat.' The study suggests that intake of these vitamins is as important as quitting smoking, lowering high cholesterol and controlling blood pressure to preventing premature death.

Studies on men and women have shown that folate and vitamin B-6 reduced levels of the amino acid homocysteine and prevented narrowing of the arteries that feed the brain.

Other studies had linked high levels of homocysteine in the blood to a greatly raised risk of suffering a heart attack. Homocysteine is believed to increase coronary risk by one or more mechanisms

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