Nutritional advice can feel overwhelming. It seems, at least from some headlines, like the advice is constantly changing.
of what exactly you should be eating for your heart health—and foods that are bad for the heart. It was published this week in theData from Freeman et al. 2018You’ve probably heard a lot of mixed things about coffee—it’s bad, it’s good, it doesn’t do anything—but the bulk of the evidence says. Cardiologists think some of the health benefits may come from the antioxidants in coffee, like polyphenols, but it’s been difficult to link the effects to any specific compound.
Most of the reassurance that coffee is part of a healthy diet comes from observational studies, where researchers ask a large number of people to describe their eating and coffee drinking habits, and then find associations between consuming coffee and heart health. Those studies have found that drinking somewhere around three to five cups a day reduces your overall risk of death as well as your risk of cardiovascular disease.
All that being said, the thing that’s not healthy about many Americans’ coffee habits is the sugar. Coffee-flavored drinks, or simple drip coffee with tons of sugar added, are counterproductive. The sugar and calories in them work against the heart-healthy black coffee, so try to drink your morning cup with as few adulterating other ingredients as possible.Like coffee, researchers think the antioxidants in tea are part of what helps it to have a positive impact on our bodies.
But also like coffee, a lot of this assumes that you’re not downing your afternoon tea with tons of sugar or other sweeteners.These fungi are little nutritional powerhouses. The cardiology review notes that they have anti-inflammatory compounds, antioxidants, and vitamin D, plus a set of other bioactive compounds that help reduce hardening of the arteries, cholesterol, and blood pressure.
Is this a joke? Cardiologists want to make us vegan and fill us with toxic statins. Neither promotes good health.