Americans Are Among the Fattest People on Earth

According to recent statistics from national and international health organizations, Americans are among the fattest people on earth. The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in the United States, obesity has risen at an epidemic rate during the past 20 years. Dr. Jennifer Zebrack, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, reports that 34% of all Americans are overweight – defined as having a Body Mass Index of 25.0 to 29.9 – and 30.5% are obese, defined as having a Body Mass Index of 30.0 or higher. Dr. Zebrack points out that it’s not just adults who are becoming problematically heavy, but children and adolescents as well; about 13% of children and adolescents in the US are now seriously overweight.
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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.