Go bananas for the sake of your heart
Are you feeling peckish? Reach for a banana or an avocado - it may help protect your heart.
Picture: AFP
Eating bananas and avocados, both of which are rich in potassium (as are potatoes and legumes) may help prevent the development of heart disease.
This is according to researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
They found, for the first time, that reduced dietary potassium promotes elevated aortic stiffness in a mouse model, as compared with normal-potassium-fed mice.
Such arterial stiffness in humans is predictive of heart disease and death from heart disease, and it represents an important health problem for the nation as a whole.
The UAB researchers also found that increased dietary potassium levels lessened vascular calcification and aortic stiffness.
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