Heart Healthy Foods

Heart healthy foods include walnuts, olive oil, and raisin bran. A healthy diet containing foods high in soluble fiber (such as oatmeal) can reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 36 percent. Other foods that are good for your heart include those fortified with plant sterols or stanols.

What Are Heart Healthy Foods?

When it comes to heart healthy foods, there are a number of food groups that would be considered heart healthy. In fact, a diet that is good for your heart should include lots of heart healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, and fibers.
 
But what about foods that actually lower your risk for heart disease? Go on the Internet and search "heart healthy foods," and you will find claims that everything from garlic to walnuts will lower your heart disease risk. Research has shown that certain food can lower the risk for heart disease; for other "heart healthy foods," the research is less clear-cut.
 

Specific Heart Healthy Foods

There are several types of foods that have been shown to decrease the risk for heart disease.
 These include foods that are:
 
  • High in soluble fiber
  • Fortified with plant stanols or sterols.
     
Other heart healthy foods show pretty strong evidence of lowering the risk for heart disease. These foods include:
 
Alcohol in moderation is also considered heart healthy.
 
(Heart Healthy Foods Continued: Page 2)
Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
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