Do calcium supplements have the same positive effect for your heart?
Yes. There is some evidence that taking just some form of calcium supplement can have the same effect. However, at this point in time, it looks like that actually something about the combination of nutrients in milk has even more effect on helping reduce body fat.
Does cheese fall into this category of calcium or is it just too fatty?
Cheese does fall into that category, but it is high in fat, most types of cheese anyway. You can go for the lower-fat cheeses, like the part-skim mozzarella, but there is still a modest amount of fat in it so you don’t want to overdo it. Some of the types of Jarlsberg and Swiss can be a little lower in fat too, so those would be your better choices in the cheese world.
Is there any food that’s surprising or unique where people might not really think that it could protect your heart?
Titchenal: Probably the ones that come to mind the most are the red meats and the lower-fat milk and yogurt products because they usually just don’t associate those with heart health. Also with meat, I really emphasize the low-fat red meats. The one that I have here is the top round and that’s lean meat. You also can go with pork tenderloin, which is a rather lean red meat as well. The beef tends to be a little higher in iron, but both are good sources of a lot of important nutrients. Both the milk products and the meat products are a good source of vitamin B12, which a lot of people may not be getting enough of. We know the combination of vitamin B12, which is only in animal products, along with folate or folic acid, which is in the fruits and vegetables primarily, and vitamin B6, which is in mostly fruits and vegetables, help reduce the homocystine levels in your blood. So a lot of people are taking supplements with those three B vitamins for that purpose because it’s one of those multiple factors for reducing the risk of heart disease.
If somebody changes his diet and starts an appropriate diet, what kind of impact could that have as far as heart disease is concerned?
Titchenal: If somebody makes the right changes in the direction of heart healthy eating in a balanced fashion, which is what I’m emphasizing here, he can expect to see a pretty big impact at some point down the line. Certainly, it’s one of many factors that play a role, but it’s an extremely important one. So, certainly I think if people cut down on the total fat in their diet, increase the variety of foods that are higher in fiber, and then keep some of these healthy foods, certainly they can see changes in blood cholesterol and things like that within a matter of months.
Source: Ivanhoe Newswire
