Eat your vegetables — your heart health may depend on it. , vegetables provide important nutrients to prevent heart disease and may even boost cardiorespiratory fitness — the body’s ability to supply and use oxygen for exercise. Eating lots of may be as good for the heart as taking 4,000 more steps every day, according to a 2023 published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Cardiologists aren’t surprised. “A diet high in vegetables is very heart healthy for several reasons. One, it might actually replace other bad stuff people eat — if you have more vegetables, maybe you’re not eating garbage,” Dr.
Marc Eisenberg, a clinical cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, tells TODAY.com. People who consume more fruits and vegetables have fewer heart attacks and strokes, adds Dr.
Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. Diets high in fruits and vegetables are beneficial for blood pressure, cholesterol and weight maintenance, says Dr. Sean Heffron, a cardiologist in the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Health in New York.
That may be due to the antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (compounds plants produce for their own protection), plus other mechanisms not yet understood, he adds. “Everybody tries to pull out all the various important chemicals from fruits and vegetables and cre.
