N
ew research from the Emory/Geor- gia Tech Predictive Health Institute suggests that a lack of vitamin D, even in generally healthy people, is linked with stiffer arteries and an inability of blood vessels to relax. The finding adds to evi- dence showing that insufficient vitamin D leads to impaired vascular health, contributing to high blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease. The body naturally manufactures vitamin D when it is exposed to sun- light. Foods like vitamin-D-fortified milk or cereals and oily fish also are good dietary sources to help provide sufficient amounts of this essential nutrient.
MORE BENEFITS FROM VITAMIN D
A
study conducted by the Agricultural Research Service’s Arkansas Chil- dren’s Nutrition Center and the Univer- sity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences indicates that eating blueberries may help prevent atherosclerosis, or harden- ing of the arteries. When researchers spiked the diet of 15 lab mice with freeze-dried blueberry powder (com- parable to a half-cup of the berries) for 20 weeks, they found that the size of harmful lesions (plaque) measured on two sites in their aortas were 39 and 58 percent less than for 15 mice in a control group.
BLUEBERRIES ASSIST ARTERY FUNCTION
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture
natural awakenings July 2011 19
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