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You’ve heard it all before..”eat your greens” and many people have not understood,  or not believed, thinking it’s just an old wife’s tail, but the medical world has advocated the inclusion of green vegetables into a heart healthy cardiac diet for many years.

The evidence from numerous long-term test has clearly indicated the health benefits of diets that include a regular intake of greens, but until now no one has been able to explain in clinical terms why it is so beneficial.

However, a recent report by a team at The Imperial College of London, explains how a chemical found in the vegetables can boost a natural defense mechanism to protect arteries from disease.

The report goes on to say:

Much heart disease is caused by the build up of fatty plaques in the arteries known as atherosclerosis. However, arteries do not get clogged up with these plaques in a uniform way. Bends and branches of blood vessels – where blood flow is disrupted and can be sluggish – are much more prone to the build-up.

The latest study has shown that a protein that usually protects against plaque build up called Nrf2 is inactive in areas of arteries that are prone to disease. However, it also found that treatment with a chemical found in green “brassica” vegetables such as broccoli can activate Nrf2 in these disease-prone regions.

Lead researcher Dr Paul Evans said: “We found that the innermost layer of cells at branches and bends of arteries lack the active form of Nrf2, which may explain why they are prone to inflammation and disease.

“We also need to see if the compound can reduce the progression of disease in affected arteries.”
Targeted approaches

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the research, said: “These fascinating findings provide a possible mechanism by which eating vegetables protects against heart disease.
“As well as adding evidence to support the importance of eating ‘five-a-day’, the biochemistry revealed in this research could lead to more targeted dietary or medical approaches to prevent or lessen disease that leads to heart attacks and strokes.”

Using normal mice, and mice engineered to lack the Nrf2 protein, the research found that in straight sections of arteries Nrf2 was present in the endothelial ‘lining’ cells. Through its action on other proteins, it prevented the cells from becoming inflamed, an early stage in the development of atherosclerosis.

In the lining cells of disease-prone sites – such as bending or branched arteries – Nrf2 was attached to a protein that made it inactive. This stifled its protective properties. But the addition of sulforaphane re-activated Nrf2 in the disease-prone regions of the artery, restoring the cells’ ability to protect themselves from becoming inflamed.

The researchers believe that this will enable these artery regions to remain healthy for longer, or even reduce the progression of existing disease.

BRASSICAS

Broccoli
Cabbage
Kale
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Bok choy
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