Confirming the age-old adage, scientists have found that green leafy vegetables are the key to better heart health.
The team from New Edith Cowan University notes that eating just one cup of nitrate-rich vegetables every day can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease.
Participants who regularly ate nitrate-rich foods, including leafy greens, radish, turnip and beetroots, had lower blood pressure and were less likely to be diagnosed with heart disease many years later.
Examining data of over 50,000 people in a 23-year-long Danish study, they found a 12-26 per cent reduction in cardiovascular disease risk.
Writing in the European Journal of Epidemiology, the scientists clarified that eating one cup of raw (or half a cup of cooked) nitrate-rich vegetables was optimal for this purpose and eating more or taking supplements 'didn't seem to give any additional benefits.'