Eating Leafy Greens Daily Slashes Your Heart Disease Risk, Study Says - Best Life

In fact, according to a new study, eating one type of food daily can greatly reduce your risk of heart disease later in life.

A team of researchers from Edith Cowan University in Australia set out to investigate the effects of eating a diet high in nitrate-rich vegetables, including dark, leafy greens such as lettuce, cabbage, kale, spinach, collard greens, and broccoli.

The team analyzed diet data from over 50,000 Danish citizens over the course of 23 years, finding that those whose diets included regular intake of leafy greens were 12 to 26 percent less likely to develop heart disease later in life—even when consumed in smaller amounts.

"Our results have shown that by simply eating one cup of raw (or half a cup of cooked) nitrate-rich vegetables each day, people may be able to significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease," lead researcher Catherine Bondonno, PhD, said in a statement.

"The greatest reduction in risk was for peripheral artery disease (26 percent), a type of heart disease characterized by the narrowing of blood vessels of the legs," Bondonno said.

"People don't need to be taking supplements to boost their nitrate levels because the study showed that one cup of leafy green vegetables each day is enough to reap the benefits for heart disease," Bondonno said.

And for more on important health indicators, If You Can't Do This Many Push-Ups, Your Heart Is at Risk, Study Says.