These two fruits are considered powerhouses because of the endless benefits they provide, but it was only recently that scientists have found that bananas and avocados may also prevent a serious health risk from occurring.
To find out what serious health risk can be prevented, continue reading!
The heart is the biggest organ in the body. It keeps us alive and pumps blood throughout our whole body. But when it becomes compromised, scary things can happen, like a heart attack.
Doctors and scientists are constantly researching ways to prevent heart attacks from occurring, and now they believe that consuming bananas and avocados could potentially be added to that list of ways to prevent one.
The research was done at the University of Alabama and can also be found in the journal JCI Insight. What scientists gathered from their research was that if an individual consumes at least one banana or avocado per day, they could increase their chances of protecting their heart from heart disease.
The research team also found that bananas and avocados could also lower the risk of arterial blockages, which often requires a major bypass surgery. Their reason behind their findings is that the potassium found in bananas and avocados actually reduced vascular calcification, which is one of the complications that kidney disease and cardiovascular disease encounter.
In order to gather their findings, the team gave mice different diets that contained low, normal or high levels of potassium.
What they found was that the mice who received the highest level of potassium had substantially more pliable arteries, while those who were given lower amounts had harder arteries.
This also goes the same for humans. When you include foods in your diet that have high levels of potassium and magnesium, it’s natural that these types of symptoms (soft and hard arteries) are alleviated, mainly the stiffness of the arteries.
The reason why stiff arteries are a main concern for doctors is because they can cause the heart to work harder to pump blood through the body. Artery calcification is just one of the many problems a large amount of potassium in your diet can help prevent.
Protecting your arteries can help you prevent serious related conditions such as: heart disease, a stroke, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease, and hypertension.
Now I’ve been using the word calcification a lot, and it is the buildup of calcium in your tissues, organs and blood vessels. While the calcium builds up, it can stop necessary processes that keep your body working properly.
According to scientists: “Arteriosclerosis is a defect occurring in the artery (blood vessels carrying oxygenated blood) walls. It refers to hardening of the normally flexible walls due to loss of elasticity of the arterial musculature. When young, the arteries are flexible due to the presence of a protein called elastin.”
They also explained that “As age advances, there is loss of this elastin causing thickening of the arterial walls. Atherosclerosis is another condition that refers to the deposition of fat plaques and cholesterol globules within the arteries causing narrowing of the lumen of the arteries.”
Scientists also made reference that vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), also contribute to vascular calcification in arteriosclerosis. They also went on to state that “Arterial stiffness has become an independent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, representing an important health problem for the nation as a whole.”
I’ve been raving about how bananas and avocados are the world’s super foods, and here is why. Bananas are one of the easiest snacks to carry around. They don’t require refrigeration, high levels of potassium and provide you with large amounts of fiber, which is what gives you energy.
Bananas help balance your sugar level, because they don’t raise your glycemic index. They can help maintain your blood pressure level, and they can also help lower your chances of developing kidney stones because of the high amounts of potassium.
Avocados provide loads of nutrients that positively impact almost every part of your body, but mainly your heart and arteries. They contain fiber, which like bananas, will provide you with energy. They also contain vitamin C, vitamin K and folate, which are all essential ingredients to maintaining a healthy body.
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