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Veggies Ward Off Big Mac's Attack

Heart-Healthy Foods May Protect Against Occasional Fatty Meal

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

May 21, 2003 -- Eating a lot of heart-healthy foods keeps your arteries in fighting trim. Trim enough to fight off the effects of a fast food meal, a new study suggests.

Earlier work by University of Maryland researcher Gary D. Plotnick, MD, and colleagues showed that eating a high-fat meal puts a whammy on your circulation. Normally, arteries expand when there's a sudden increase in blood flow. Eat a high-fat meal, however, and your arteries lose this ability for at least four hours.

When subjects took antioxidant supplements -- or ate a green salad -- just before eating a high-fat meal, Plotnick's team found it blunted these high-fat effects. Now the researchers show that people who've been eating well all along might have the same kind of protection.

To mimic a heart- healthy diet, the researchers had volunteers take capsules full of a fruit and vegetable concentrate (Juice Plus) for four weeks. Other volunteers took fake capsules while others got a version of the capsules rich in antioxidant vitamins and herbal extracts (Juice Plus with Vineyard). The study was partially funded by the manufacturer of Juice Plus.

Then came the challenge. Four weeks of taking the capsules twice a day, the volunteers ate a high-fat meal: An Egg McMuffin, a Sausage McMuffin, two McDonald's hash brown patties and a non-caffeinated beverage. This added up to 50 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, and 225 mg of cholesterol.

This meal caused the expected temporary deterioration of artery function in those who got the fake pills -- their arteries weren't as flexible. But those who got the fruit and veggie supplements were largely protected -- even though they didn't take the capsules on the day of the challenge. The detrimental effect of the high-fat meal on the arteries was blunted.

This doesn't mean that you can eat nutritional supplements instead of your fruits and veggies, Plotnick says. But it does help scientists understand one way a healthy diet protects your heart.

"What we'd like to see is that people eat a healthy diet," Plotnick says in a news release. "We didn't compare these capsules to what would happen if you ate fruits and vegetables on your own. I don't think this shows that taking fruit and vegetable concentrates means you can eat whatever else you want. Your mother was right. You should eat well balanced meals with fruits and vegetables."

Interestingly, the extra antioxidants didn't add to the effect of the fruit and veggie concentrates.

"Maybe it's the balance of everything in those capsules, rather than a single vitamin, that might be beneficial," Plotnick says. "That might explain why people who eat a healthy diet have a better prognosis."

The study appears in the May 21 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In an editorial, Boston University cardiologist Jane E. Freedman, MD, notes that the Plotnick experiment does not show that supplements can offset the effects of a high-fat or high-calorie diet.

"This study does not suggest that a phytonutrient or vitamin supplement is the solution for high-fat, low-fiber, low-nutrient diets," she writes. "Instead [it] reinforces the positive effects of nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables."