Newsletter #174: Foods To Fight Cardiovascular Disease 🫀
Good morning, humanOS friends! This week, we took a look at some recent research on foods and dietary components to help maintain good cardiovascular health.
We've made a ton of progress, but heart disease remains the leading cause of death for people in the US and in other industrialized countries, responsible for about 1 in every 4 deaths in America.
Fortunately, cardiovascular health is highly actionable, and emerging research suggests that specific whole foods, particularly plant-based foods rich in phytochemicals and fermented dairy products, can significantly lower your risk. To learn more about some of these foods, scroll on down 👇🏼
This Week’s Research Highlights
🌰 Eating a handful of walnuts daily leads to lower LDL cholesterol.
Epidemiological research has linked frequent nut consumption to reduced risk of heart disease. To better understand how incorporating nuts into the diet impacts cardiovascular risk factors, researchers examined data from 708 healthy older adults (63-79) in Barcelona, Spain, and Loma Linda, California. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a walnut-supplemented diet (30-60 grams per day, about 15% of total energy intake), or a walnut free diet (control group). The intervention group was given allotments of walnuts at each lab visit to facilitate compliance. After two years, participants in the walnut group had lower total and LDL cholesterol, as well as lower LDL particle number. Notably, the subjects did not experience weight gain, despite the considerable energy density of walnuts - 30 grams of walnuts is almost 200 calories. For more info on why walnuts seem not to lead to increased body fatness, and why walnuts are generally a pretty healthy thing to eat, check out this blog. 👀
🥛 Consuming kefir is linked to improved blood lipids and lower blood pressure.
There really hasn’t been a ton of research on kefir, despite many lofty health claims attributed to it, so this definitely caught my attention. Researchers in Brazil recruited 48 patients with metabolic syndrome, and randomly assigned them to drink either kefir or placebo (1.6 mL/kg for men or 1.9 mL/kg for women) for 12 weeks. Participants in the kefir group showed significant decreases in LDL-C (-7.5%), triglycerides (-25%), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (-9 mmHg and -7 mmHg respectively). This finding mirrors that of a similar study from a few years ago, which showed that participants who drank 200mL of kefir daily experienced a 5% reduction in LDL cholesterol and a 17% drop in triglycerides after eight weeks.
🧂 Salt substitutes are associated with lower risk of heart attack and stroke.
Empirical research shows that replacing sodium chloride salt with potassium-enriched salts significantly lowers blood pressure. To examine the impact of this strategy on clinical events and deaths, researchers recruited 20995 individuals at high cardiovascular risk from 600 villages in rural China. Villages were randomly assigned to either use a salt substitute (75% NaCl and 25% KCl) or to continue using regular salt. Over a mean follow up of 4.74 years, participants who used the salt substitute had a 14% reduction in stroke risk, 13% reduction in total cardiovascular events, and 12% reduction in premature deaths, compared to those who used the regular salt.
☕ Moderate coffee consumption is linked to lower risk of major cardiovascular events.
Yep, more good stuff about coffee. Researchers analyzed data from 468629 participants in a large UK cohort with no signs of heart disease at baseline. They were divided into three groups based on usual coffee intake, and followed for a median of 11 years. Compared to non-drinkers, moderate coffee consumption (0.5 to 3 cups per day) was found to be associated with a 12% lower risk of all-cause mortality, 17% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and 21% lower risk of incident stroke. To get some insight into underlying mechanisms, the research team examined the heart structure and function of a subset of 30650 participants who had undergone cardiac MRI. Study author Judit Simon said: "The imaging analysis indicated that compared with participants who did not drink coffee regularly, daily consumers had healthier sized and better functioning hearts. This was consistent with reversing the detrimental effects of aging on the heart."
🍓 Adding strawberries to the diet results in improved insulin resistance and lipid profile.
Researchers recruited 33 obese participants with elevated serum LDL cholesterol, and randomly assigned them to one of the three arms for four weeks separated by a one-week washout period: control powder, one serving (13 g freeze-dried strawberry powder/day), or 2.5 servings (32 g strawberry powder/day). This was a crossover design, so participants were exposed to all arms over the course of the study. Following the high dose of strawberry powder, participants showed significant reductions in fasting insulin and insulin resistance (measured by HOMA-IR), as well as decreased LDL particles.
Random Trivia Question of the Week
🤔 DNA does not just float around in free linear strands in our cells - it is very tightly packaged with the help of proteins known as histones. If all of our DNA in every cell were to be uncoiled and arranged from end to end, how far would it stretch? (Hypothetically speaking; I don’t recommend trying to do this at home)
💡 ANSWER
Podcasts We Loved This Week
- Leanne Redman: Pregnancy, maternal diet, and intergenerational transmission of obesity. Via Sigma Nutrition Radio.
- Diane Griffin: How long do viruses hang out in your body? Via Science Friday.
Products We Are Enjoying
Seaweed snacks
These add a rich, savory flavor to soups, salads, and whatever else you like to eat, while adding very little salt. They are also pretty nutritious (well, at least for something with only 25 calories). They contain a decent amount of vitamin C, iron, and about 50 mcg of iodine (31% of daily value).
We like this brand because they’re pretty easy to find at grocery stores and Amazon, and they have an assortment of interesting flavors, but there are plenty of different options out there. You might also try heading to an Asian grocery.
humanOS Catalog Feature of the Week
Thank you, as always, for reading, and see y'all next week!