Choosing your five-a-day fruits and vegetables carefully could boost heart health, a study suggests. Experts recommended prioritising those high in flavanols — natural compounds that have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. Blueberries, plums, blackberries, broad beans or cherries are among the best sources.
Study leader Dr Javier Ottaviani, of University of California Davis in the US, said: “Flavanols can significantly reduce the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, but only if you consume enough of them. Most people assume that eating plenty of fruit and vegetables covers this, but what this research shows is that the specific choices you make matter far more than the total amount.
“Including a handful of blackberries, a whole apple or having a cup of green tea alongside your meal could make a real difference to how much of these beneficial compounds you actually consume and absorb from the diet.”
The study, which also involved scientists from the University of Reading and Harvard Medical School, tracked the diets of more than 30,000 people across the UK and US.
Previous research has found that a daily intake of 500mg of flavanols is associated with a significantly reduced risk of dying from heart disease. Here’s how much flavanols are found in common fruits and vegetables:
Researchers said the findings raised questions about whether dietary recommendations about fruit and vegetable consumption should be made more specific.
Professor Gunter Kuhnle of the University of Reading said: “Five-a-day is the right message, but we may need to think more carefully about which five.
“Different fruits and vegetables offer very different nutritional benefits beyond vitamins and minerals, and as our understanding of these compounds grows, there is a real opportunity to make dietary guidance more specific and more effective.
“This research is a step towards understanding what that might look like in practice.” The findings were published in the journal Food and Function.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
