About Foods That Help Prevent Heart Disease

When you think about foods that help prevent heart disease, you may think first about all the foods you shouldn't be eating. But if you give more thought to what you should eat instead, the task of devising a heart healthy diet becomes less onerous. Basically, foods that are good for your heart are those that don't clog your arteries with cholesterol, those that lower homocysteine levels, and also those that provide nutrients for healthy heart tissues, blood vessels and blood.

Unsaturated versus Saturated Fat

To prevent heart disease, you should consume no more than 20 to 30 percent of your daily calories from fat, and no more than 10 percent from saturated fat. The kind of unsaturated fats you eat is important too. A diet that includes monounsaturated fats, like olive oil or canola oil instead of saturated fats like butter or lard, has been shown to improve good to bad cholesterol ratios. Polyunsaturated fats like corn, safflower, sunflower, grape seed or cotton seed oils are better for you than saturated fat, but not as good as monounsaturated fats.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

To further reduce your risk of heart disease, eat salmon, tuna, flax seed, walnuts and soy beans as these foods are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids may directly lower your risk of heart disease by preventing excessive blood clotting and thickening of the artery walls. Indirectly, omega-3 fatty acids promote heart health by improving the way that the body responds to insulin, which in turn reduces the risk of obesity.

Fiber-Rich Foods

Foods that are high in dietary fiber also help prevent heart disease, according to a study published in "Journal of the American Medical Association." A diet including 25 grams of dietary fiber each day is correlated with lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure, as well as a healthy body weight. Oatmeal, beans, lentils and other legumes are excellent sources of dietary fiber. Five daily servings of fruits and vegetables will boost your fiber intake even more. Refined flour foods should be eaten only occasionally. Instead, eat fiber rich 100-percent whole grain breads and pastas.

Homocysteine

B vitamins and folic acid also play an important role in preventing heart disease by lowering homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is an amino acid that occurs naturally in the body as a byproduct of the metabolism of animal and plant proteins. Normally, the body breaks down homocysteine into non-harmful components, but lack of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid can inhibit this process. You can prevent vitamin B deficiency by eating plenty of foods like whole grains, legumes, spinach, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, beets, bananas, oranges and peaches. Many doctors also recommend a daily multivitamin.

Warning--Hydrogenated Oils

Foods that are good for preventing heart disease in their natural state are sometimes processed in a way that makes them potentially harmful. Soybean oil, for instance, is listed as an ingredient in many processed foods, but it is usually followed with the words "partially hydrogenated." The hydrogenation process takes a perfectly good oil and changes it into a potent artery clogging form called a transfat. Any oil described hydrogenated is a transfat.

Resources

• Report About Homocysteine
• Health Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids