Eating vegetables slashes atherosclerosis risk by 38 percent, research reveals

A team of researchers at Wake Forest University fed a group of 54 mice a diet consisting of 30 percent vegetables, which included freeze-dried peas, beans, broccoli, carrots and corn. A control group of 53 mice was fed a vegetable-free diet. At the end of the 16-week study, researchers found that the mice that ate vegetables had lower total cholesterol, lower LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, and 7 percent lower body weight, on average. They also had 38 percent smaller atherosclerotic plaques.

According to Wake Forest pathology professor Michael Adams, the study's lead researcher, broad human studies of atherosclerosis are difficult because of the lack of accountability with factors such as exercise and dietary choices. Since the mice in Adams' study all got relatively the same amount of exercise and had their diets controlled, the effects of simply eating more vegetables could be measured.

Alice Lichtenstein, who chairs the nutrition committee for the American Heart Association, called the study "interesting and encouraging" and said that reduced atherosclerosis could be "a direct effect" of increased vegetable and fruit intake.

The study's lead researcher recommends that Americans double their current fruit and vegetable intake of two to three servings per day based on his findings. "If people just ate two or three more servings a day, odds are they would be much healthier for it."

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