Eat Vegetables With This for Better Heart Health

Eating vegetables with salicylic acid can help thin your blood and prevent heart disease

Eating your veggies may be just as effective as Aspirin to thin the blood for heart-health benefits, several studies suggest. Did you know that the active ingredient in Aspirin is salicylic acid, which is found naturally in willow bark and many vegetables? While few people will want to chew on bark, several studies have shown that eating your veggies may be just as effective as Aspirin to thin the blood and benefit the heart.

Better than Aspirin

Surrey Nutrition Coach, Eve Lees, says there are no side effects from food sources of salicylic acid, as there may be from taking Aspirin regularly (it may damage the lining of the digestive tract and increase risk of bleeding). Lees adds that many studies, including the Framingham Heart Study, all show heart disease can be prevented with less focus on animal-based foods and greater priority on those plant-based (vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds).

Every vegetable is beautiful

Heart disease is the second leading cause of death among Canadians. If taking blood-thinners such as Aspirin could lower heart-disease risk, perhaps that’s a message we should eat more veggies, suggests Lees. Every vegetable is a superfood and each has its own unique properties (not just salicylic acid) to keep you healthy. Avoid limiting your choices; include a wide variety of vegetables in your diet to get a wide variety of nutrients.