Diet Can Mitigate Cardiac Remodeling

[Barny12]

More positive news regarding lifestyle interventions:

"What if you could improve your heart health and brain function by changing your diet? Boston University School of Medicine researchers have found that by eating more plant-based food such as berries and green leafy vegetables while limiting consumption of foods high in saturated fat and animal products, you can slow down heart failure and ultimately lower your risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

The adoption of diets, such as the Mediterranean diet (MIND) and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), which are characterized by high intakes of plant-based foods are among lifestyle recommendations for the prevention of HF. However, whether a dietary pattern that emphasizes foods thought to promote the maintenance of neurocognitive health also mitigates changes in cardiac structure and function (cardiac remodeling) has been unclear until now.

The researchers found the MIND diet, which emphasizes consumption of berries and green leafy vegetables while limiting intakes of foods high in saturated fat and animal products, positively benefited the hearts’ left ventricular function which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood throughout the body.

The researchers evaluated the dietary and echocardiographic data of 2,512 participants of the Framingham Heart Study (Offspring Cohort), compared their MIND diet score to measures of cardiac structure and function and observed that a dietary pattern that emphasizes foods thought to promote the maintenance of neurocognitive health also mitigates cardiac remodeling."

bumc.bu.edu/busm/2021/02/25...

and

cambridge.org/core/journals...

[secondtry]

Thanks Barny. Real good clean food can't be over emphasised. It is a long road back to find unprocessed food from the best sources preferably in your local area. Well worth it though.

[Maggimunro]

Thanks for posting this. We made the decision 4 years ago to cut out red meat entirely from our diet. It was a gradual process over 6 months, first cutting out beef and then pork and then lamb.

I’m not saying it is easy since I had to learn a whole new raft of dishes to cook but I found Jamie Oliver’s book on veggies really helpful. We still eat fish two or three times a week, and we indulged in an organic chicken at Christmas.

Apart from throwing a few ectopics after my Covid jab, I have managed to be Afib free, as far as I can tell, ever since my last ablation in June 2017.

Well worth considering going towards a plant based diet for personal health, animal welfare and environmental reasons.

[Doggiemomma]

I forget who said this butI'm pretty sure it was from a special on the local Public Broadcasting System (PBS): Eat good food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I guess adding berries would be good, too!

[Nigel2000 in reply to Doggiemomma]

Michael Pollin

[Auriculaire]

Frankly this amuses me! I always wonder what Americans think a traditional Mediterranean diet was. Fish was a staple and the fattiest of meats - lamb or mutton - were the treats. Charcuterie was eaten and plenty of cheese - though mainly goat and sheep cheeses. The difference is that animals were naturally raised by eating what they are meant to eat - stuff that grows in fields and not GM corn or soy. Here in the middle of France people lived as long or longer on traditional diets ( very different to the Mediterranean one) as on the littoral. Frying their spuds in duck or goose fat and eating confit de canard ( duck legs deep fried in their own fat -delicious) and steaks of Limousin beef( several munching happily in the field at the bottom of our garden ). What causes most of the ills of modern life is not eating real food including from properly raised animals cooked from scratch, but rubbish produced in factories.

[Cangelo629]

I was fortunate to grow up in a house were my Grandfather was a Chef who immigrated here to America and naturally practiced eating a Mediterranean diet. He lived to his mid 90's. My Father his son almost hit 90 all of my siblings are alive in our mid 60's all or close to it we're all active and realitivly healty. I stop eating fast food better then over 30 years ago when I did it was never the real high fat foods nor was it a everyday thing. Outside occasionally ginger ale gave up pop ( soda) 30+ years ago I've drank unsweetened tea, water or low sugar to no sugar drinks for years and till this day never salted my food. I know genetics plays a large role but it's obvious that if you eat right you can mitigate many of the aliments that plague the human race.