What are the best superfoods for heart health?

Analysis: from almonds and cashew, to chia seeds and hemp seeds, here's what you should eat for your heart

Of the many foods eaten as a part of daily diet, some of them may have a specific cardioprotective effects, especially when comes to health of your heart. Those foods not only seem to help with your circulation and blood pressure, but also may protect you against cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke. Now, you may wonder which foods you should eat if you want to improve your cardiovascular health. Here is a good hint to start with – plant foods.

Fruits and vegetables

A detailed epidemiological analysis involving over four million people from over 60 countries, with a median age of 55 years of age, showed that a high intake of both fruit and vegetables, whether whole foods or as juice, compared with the lowest consumption, decreased risk of CVD, coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke incidence or mortality by 7%. Separately, this was 9% for fruit and 5% for vegetables only.

Fruits and berries, such as blackberries, blueberries, chokeberries, cranberries, gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries, are well-known for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, attributed to many bioactives - polyphenols, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibres. Some of them, in particular anthocyanins and anthocyanins, can improve your lipid profile (meaning reduce LDL cholesterol) and decrease inflammation in your body (Xu et al., 2021). As little as a 50g portion a day of blueberries after eight weeks can help you decrease blood pressure if you struggle with metabolic conditions, such as insulin resistance or high glucose.

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So, eating fresh berries or drinking regular intake fresh juice can significantly reduce blood pressure, while also promoting healthy circulation. Interestingly, eating citrus fruits and pommes among all fruits showed the most prominent effects in reducing risk of CVD, with 12% for citrus and 24% for pommes fruit. In the case of vegetables, adding as little as one serving of green leafy vegetables was associated with an 18% risk reduction in CVD, CHD, and stroke incidence and CHD mortality.

Despite some confusing information about various fruit and vegetable products, in this study, neither fruit nor vegetables were negatively associated with CVD, including fruit foods of concern like 100% fruit juice and dried fruits, often eaten as snacks. The research indicates that eating seven fruits and seven vegetable servings a day can reduce risk of CHD mortality, ranging from around 20% for fruit and approximately 30% for vegetables.

Whole grains

Whole grains are rich source of many nutrients that have been consistently linked with beneficial effects on health, including reduced risk of CVD. For example, adding whole grains (mixed) to your diet can reduce total (by -16%) and CVD-related (by -17%) mortality, whereas each additional 28 g serving of whole grains a day was linked with a 9% lower risk for total mortality and 14% lower risk for CVD death.

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Legumes and pulses

Legumes and pulses, including chickpeas, lentils, and various types of peas and beans provide high amounts of complex carbohydrates, dietary fibres and plant proteins, as well as vitamins and minerals (e.g. folate, potassium, iron, niacin, riboflavin), which have many benefits for both metabolic and cardiovascular health. Pulses are also naturally low in fat, but rich in plant sterols and other metabolites, which can favourably influence lipid profile, glycaemic control and blood pressure, thereby leading to reduced CVD risk.

Eating between three to four servings of legumes per week -- as substitution of meat -- may reduce risk of CVD and coronary heart disease by 10%. Also, legumes including beans, black beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas and black-eyed peas, consumed more than once a day by adults aged 35 to 70 years without previous diagnosis of CVD, was inversely associated with cardiovascular mortality and total mortality in a 7-year perspective (Miller et al., 2017). Aim to eat around 400g of legumes every week, that is equal to four portions of cooked legumes a week, or two cans of beans, to get the optimal cardiovascular benefits.

Nuts

Nuts are nutrient-dense foods rich in unsaturated fatty acids and other bioactive compounds, such as dieatry fibres, minerals, vitamin E, phytosterols and polyphenols, which all together can benefit your cardiovascular health. Without doubt, regular intake of (non-processed) nuts, in particularly almonds, walnuts, cashew and peanuts, may help you lower a 'bad' LDL cholesterol, reduce oxidative stress, decrease inflammation and promote vascular elasticity, thereby limiting risks of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and diabetes.

People at high cardiovascular risk, who regularly snack on nuts and consume a daily serving 15g walnuts, 7.5 g almonds and 7.5 g hazelnuts reduce the risk of developing CVD by 30%, and having a stroke incident.

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Fermented foods for strong healthy heart

Fermented foods are important part of many diets and their regular consumption has been linked with positive health effects, also including prevention and management of CVD. Although there are many explanations of that, it seems that beneficial microbes and their bioactives, present in certain fermented foods (e.g., kefir, kombucha, mature cheeses and kimchi, pickled cucumbers) may be a help in weight maintenance and may provide improvements in glycemic control and lipid profile.

Here are the best foods to add to your new heart-full diet:

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Pears: as a dietary source of flavonoids, dietary fibre and antioxidants, pears can promote CVD health while significantly decreasing the risk of cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular death, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and all-cause mortality.

Quinoa: considered as a pseudo-grain, it is a rich source of all essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids like omega 3. Consequently, eating a 25g portion of quinoa flakes, instead of traditional corn flakes for breakfast, can significantly improve lipid profile after four weeks, leading to reductions in the total and LDL-cholesterol, followed by additional improvements in the antioxidant status.

Wheatgrass: being harvested from wheat before it becomes a whole cereal grain, wheatgrass is a rich source of antioxidants, including vitamin E, flavonoids, and green chlorophyll. Not surprisingly, supplementing capsules with wheatgrass powder (3.5g) after 10 weeks helped lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in people with hyperlipidemia (Kumar et al., 2017).

Almonds: as a rich source of vitamin E, mono- and poly- unsaturated fats, magnesium, potassium, and dietary fiber, among all nuts, have been shown to be the most beneficial for CVD health, attributed to their LDL cholesterol lowering effects, while still maintaining adequate concentration of HDL cholesterol.

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Cashew nuts: being a source of protein, mono- (80%) and poly- unsaturated fats (18%,) magnesium and potassium, although having a noticeable content of saturated fats (40-50%), may help with blood pressure normalisation, with no negative effects on lipid profile.

Hempseeds: obtained from industrial hemp plant, are unappreciated superfood when it comes to heart health, as they are a rich source of protein (25% to 30%), carbohydrate (20% to 30%), dietary fibre (30% to 40%), and omega-6 and -3 fats (>90%), including linoleic acid (LA) and α-linolenic acid (ALA). In particularly, adding a hempseed oil regularly to salads, breads and soups with total daily intake of 30 ml after four weeks can lower total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio when compared to consumption of flaxseed oil.

Chia seeds: are rich in essential omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linoleic acid, and dietary fibres that with regular consumption, either as addition to breakfast porridge (40g portion) or pancakes and breads made with chia flour, can help to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients and diabetics. Noteworthy, chia can also help you to hit the recommended daily intake of healthy fats, such as omega-3 and reduce amount of saturated fats within your diet.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ