(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Eating foods rich in flavonoids -- such as fruits and vegetables -- can help you have a strong, healthy heart.

New research from Europe finds a diet filled with flavonoids keeps the heart young longer.

The study looked at two kinds of corn -- one without a type of flavonoids known as anthocyanins; the other rich in anthocyanins. Researchers gave two groups of rats rodent food formula using the two different kinds of corn. Then they studied the effects of heart attacks, which were induced in both groups.
 

“We found that chronic consumption and effective absorption of anthocyanins rendered the rats more resistant to myocardial infarction (heart attack); in other words, the size of the infarct was significantly reduced in rats fed the anthocyanin-rich diet,” lead researcher Marie-Claire Toufektsian, Ph.D., from the University of Grenoble, was quoted as saying.

The authors also note the role of flavonoids in the Mediterranean diet compared to the so-called Western diet, which is high in fat and low in fiber.

“The anthocyanins content of the traditional Mediterranean diet is much higher than that of the Western Diet, which might explain why the Mediterranean diet is cardioprotective,” cardiologist Michel de Lorgeril, M.D., head of the Grenoble group, was quoted as saying.

Although the findings are promising, authors caution not to take them to heart quite yet. How the heart is protected is not completely clear, and studies still need to be done in humans, which may show different results.


SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition, 2008;138