Your heart loves one particular vitamin — and a plentiful dose of this nutrient feeds your heart health. So if you’d like to reduce your chances of dying earlier in life from a heart problem, as the research indicates, make sure you get plenty of it. A plus: It’s typically in the tastiest foods.
Research at the University of Copenhagen looked at the genetics and diets of about 100,000 people and found that those who had meals full of vitamin-C rich fruits and vegetables suffered a lower rate of cardiovascular disease.
“We can see that those with the highest intake of fruit and vegetables have a 15 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 20 percent lower risk of early death compared with those who very rarely eat fruit and vegetables,” says researcher Camilla Kobylecki. “At the same time, we can see that the reduced risk is related to high vitamin C concentrations in the blood from the fruit and vegetables.”
The researchers point out that vitamin C helps the body with a long list of important functions. It is necessary to construct connective tissue that supports the body’s organs. It also serves as an important antioxidant that defends the cells from damage often linked to artery and heart issues. And, unlike most animals, the human body can’t make its own vitamin C. Like bats, apes and guinea pigs, we have to eat foods – or take supplements — that contain this nutrient. (In contrast, your dog and cat have bodies that can make their own vitamin C.)
“We know that fruit and vegetables are healthy, but now our research is pinpointing more precisely why this is so,” adds researcher Boerge Nordestgaard. “Eating a lot of fruit and vegetables is a natural way of increasing vitamin C blood levels, which in the long term may contribute to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and early death.”
Nordestgaard also believes that it’s better to get your vitamin C from food rather than supplements, although I think that it can’t hurt to get it from both. But I agree that taking supplements, even if they are very high quality, can’t make up for the negative effects of junk food diet. Your body does better with healthy meals filled with organic fruits and vegetables along with a prudent dose of supplements.
Oranges are the first food that comes to mind when we think about vitamin C, but there are actually lots of other foods that have a higher concentration of C. Here are some of those foods, and I hope you’ll incorporate plenty of them into your diet:
- Red bell pepper and green bell pepper
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Papaya
- Strawberries
- Cauliflower
- Brussels sprouts
- Pineapple
- Kiwi
- Mango
Enjoy your vitamin C. Your heart will appreciate the effort to keep it healthy!
