Soy, Tea, Folic Acid Protect Heart

Soy, Tea, Folic Acid Protect Heart

BETHESDA, Md.In the Septemberissue of the Journal of Nutrition (www.nutrition.org), several studiescovered the benefits of natural products in heart health. Specifically,investigators discussed soyfood and tea consumption, as well as folic acidsupplements, and their roles in protecting various facets of heart health.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., saidthey found direct evidence linking soyfood intake with a reduced risk ofcoronary heart disease (CHD) in women (133, 9:2874-8, 2003). They analyzed datafrom the Shanghai Womens Health Study, a populationbased prospective cohortof 64,915 women with no previously diagnosed CHD, stroke, cancer or diabetes atbaseline. After an average 2.5 years of follow-up, researchers recorded 62incident cases of CHD43 nonfatal heart attacks and 19 CHD-related deaths.Researchers noted a clear monotonic dose-response relationship betweensoyfood intake and risk of total CHD for women in the highest quartile of soyprotein intake compared to the lowest.

Tea and its polyphenols also seem to have a protective effecton womens heart health, according to researchers at the University of WesternAustralia School of Medicine in Perth (133, 9:2883-6, 2003). They investigatedthe relationship between tea intake and blood pressure in a cross-sectionalstudy of 218 women, all of whom were older than 70. Higher tea intake and higher4-O-methylgallic acid secretion (a marker of exposure to tea-derivedpolyphenols) were linked to significantly lower systolic and diastolic bloodpressures. Researchers noted women who increased tea consumption by onecup (250 mL/d) exhibited a reduction in both systolic and diastolic bloodpressure, indicating long-term ingestion of tea may favorably affect bloodpressure in older women.

For mens heart health, folic acid seems to hold promise,according to a study out of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston (133,9:2863-7, 2003). Researchers reviewed data from 46,036 men and, during 12 yearsof followup, documented 308 cases of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), whichcan affect the abdominal aorta and its major branches and often occursconcurrently with atherosclerosis. Researchers found that for each 400 mcg/dincrement of folic acid intake, PAD risk decreased by 21 percent, and men withthe highest folate intake had a 33-percent lower risk of PAD than men with thelowest intake.