Nutrients in Vegetables May Help Protect the Heart From Heart Attack Damage

Nitrites and nitrates, found in foods including leafy greens, may cut heart damage in a heart attack. That news comes from lab tests in mice. Some of the mice had their drinking water laced with nitrites or nitrates for a week. For comparison, other mice got ordinary drinking water. After a week, the researchers gave the mice an induced heart attack in order to see how their hearts fared after the heart attack. The hearts of mice in the nitrite or nitrate groups had less heart attack damage than the mice that had drunk plain water in the week before the induced heart attack. Dietary sources of nitrites and nitrates included cauliflower, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, meat, and meat products. Keep reading at WebMD.