The one-cup side dish linked to 26% less leg artery disease over 23 years
The one thing
Eat one cup of leafy greens a day.
Spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula are loaded with nitrate, which your body turns into nitric oxide. Nitric oxide helps blood vessels relax and widen.
Do it today
- Buy a tub of spinach, arugula, or mixed greens.
- Eat one cup raw (or about half a cup cooked) each day. Add it to eggs, a sandwich, or a side salad.
- Beets are another strong source if greens aren’t your thing.
What the study found
People who ate the most nitrate-rich vegetables had about 2.6 points lower systolic blood pressure and 15% fewer heart and blood vessel disease hospital admissions. For leg artery disease, the drop was 26%. The benefit leveled off at roughly one cup of greens a day, so more was not better.
- Who
- 56,468 adults in Denmark, followed for 23 years.
- Type of study
- Observational study led by Edith Cowan University (Australia).
- Keep in mind
- It tracked diets, it didn’t assign them. People who eat greens daily may have other healthy habits.
Check first: If you take warfarin, keep your leafy green intake steady and talk to your doctor before changing it.
Source: Bondonno et al., European Journal of Epidemiology, 2021
Educational information, not medical advice. Read our medical disclaimer.