Study bananas and avocados protect against cardiovascular disease

Every day a banana and avocado against hardening of the arteries?

If people ingest an inadequate amount of potassium every day, it can cause significant health problems. Due to the lack of potassium, those affected even threaten dangerous cardiovascular diseases. However, there is an easy way to avoid this. The consumption of only one banana and one avocado a day is sufficient to prevent hardening of the arteries, which can later lead to a dramatic heart disease.

The University of Alabama scientists found in a recent study that daily consumption of just one banana and one avocado can protect against dangerous heart disease. The experts published the results of their study in the journal "JCI Insight".

Certain foods contain a lot of potassium. Such foods include, for example, bananas and avocados. Researchers have now discovered that consuming banana and avocado daily leads to important health benefits. A diet that is high in potassium protects against arteriosclerosis and hardening of the arteries and therefore also against dangerous cardiovascular diseases. (Image: Brent Hofacker / fotolia.com)

If foods contain a lot of potassium, they can reduce vascular calcifications

For the current study, it was investigated how potassium-rich foods prevent hardening of the arteries and reduce the occurrence of vascular calcification. The physicians noted that even the consumption of a banana and an avocado is sufficient to avoid many heart diseases. In addition, the reduction of vascular calcifications had far-reaching effects on the likelihood of heart and kidney disease, the researchers explain. A diet that is high in potassium can also reduce the risk of a condition called aortic stenosis. Aortic stenosis is a common heart valve defect that is one of the classic cardiovascular risk factors.

What are vascular calcifications??

Vascular calcifications usually occur when calcium begins to accumulate in body tissue, blood vessels or organs. Such an accumulation of calcium can cause normal processes of the body to be disturbed and the arteries to harden, the experts say.

How does potassium affect the risk of atherosclerosis??

The results of the study show the benefit of providing sufficient potassium to prevent vascular calcification in atherosclerosis susceptible mice, according to author Professor Paul Sanders of the University of Alabama. Of course, the adverse effect of low potassium intake was also observed in the study. The so-called hardening or stiffening of the arteries is commonly known as arteriosclerosis. It also affects how hard the heart has to work to pump blood through the body.

The experimental animals received three different amounts of potassium in their diet

The University of Alabama research team analyzed the effects of diets with different potassium concentrations in their study of mice. These experimental animals were given food containing either a low, normal or high concentration of potassium.

Potassium affects arterial hardening

The results found suggest that in the mice fed a low-potassium diet, arterial hardening occurred significantly more frequently compared to animals in which the diet contained high levels of potassium. Such animals generally had significantly less arterial stiffening.

Potassium reduces the hardening of the main artery of the aortic body

The mice with a potassium-rich diet were also found to have reduced stiffening in the main artery of their aortic body. This effect may be due to a low level of potassium in the blood, which prevents the expression of genes that maintain arterial flexibility, the researchers say. (As)