Culinary fruits front Photo: Ionutzmovie assumed as per creative commons/Wikimedia Commons
Fruits have long been known as rich diet that naturally strengthen functioning of the human body and help avert several disesses.
But what exactly is their vitality for heart?
A recent study explains how fruits having rich amounts of potassium – a mineral that aids proper functioning of human body – safeguard against hardening of the arteries known as calcification.
The hardening of arteries results in serious heart troubles.
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers proved through experimentation in mice the effects of dietary potassium on their heart.
So what fruits could be more helpful to maintain enough levels of potassium – which acts like an electrolyte in the human body?
A report by the University of Alabama suggests that bananas and avocados may be greatly helpful in preventing hear ailments. Potatoes, spinach and raisins have also rich amounts of potassium. The mineral is also found in fish like salmon and cod.
“Such knowledge of how vascular smooth muscle cells in the arteries regulate vascular calcification emphasizes the need to consider dietary intake of potassium in the prevention of vascular complications of atherosclerosis,” a news release says.
It also provides new targets for potential therapies to prevent or treat atherosclerotic vascular calcification and arterial stiffness, it adds.
Yabing Chen, Ph.D., UAB professor of pathology and a Research Career Scientist at the Birmingham VA Medical Center, led the research which explored this mechanism of vascular disease.
“The findings have important translational potential,” said Paul Sanders, M.D., professor of nephrology in the UAB Department of Medicine and a co-author, “since they demonstrate the benefit of adequate potassium supplementation on prevention of vascular calcification in atherosclerosis-prone mice, and the adverse effect of low potassium intake.”
