Michael Greger M.D. FACLM April 25th, 2012 Volume 8
Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. But which is more protective—raw or cooked?
In this recent study of 50,000 men and women, those who ate the most apples appeared to have significantly less risk of having a heart attack in the eight years they were followed. But those drinking apple juice appeared to increase their risk. That makes sense. Apples, like all whole plant foods, are packed with fiber, which may lower cholesterol, whereas juice consumption—no fiber, just sugar—has been tied to the risk of diseases like diabetes.
So, nothing new here, but what about this one? 20,000 men and women followed for ten years. An estimated 34% lower risk of coronary heart disease for those with a high intake of fruits and vegetables. But, they went a step further and compared raw versus cooked. No such study, focusing specifically on raw versus processed fruit and vegetable consumption in relation to coronary heart disease incidence, has ever been done, until now. What do you think they found?
Well, in the past we’ve learned that daily salad consumption, for example, may significantly decrease one’s risk of dying from heart disease. In this study of 11,000 vegetarians and other health-conscious people, daily consumption of raw salad was associated with a 26% reduction in mortality from ischemic heart disease.
So we know raw is good. At the same time, we’ve known for 15 years that phytonutrients like lycopene, in tomatoes, appear protective against heart disease—and cooking dramatically boosts lycopene bioavailability.
This was actually an interesting study. It’s hard to trust what people tell you about what they eat, so instead, people admitted to the hospital for heart attacks had a plug of fat tissue taken from their butt, and just had it analyzed to basically confirm how much tomato sauce they had really been eating.
So anyway, raw or cooked for heart disease prevention? And you probably guessed it—the answer is both.
