No Food Is Good Enough

Natural food was not designed for humans. The plants and animals we regard as food, has long had its own raison d'礙tre. So, who knows what food is best for our heart and circulation, when most of it is compromised by too many calories, detrimental fats, few protective substances, by taste and cost? How are we to make scientifically informed food choices?

Most people have fixed ideas about food - especially, what is 'bad for them' (fats in 'junk food', they think). Far fewer know what might be positively good for their heart and arteries (rather than just 'not so bad'). Most believe that fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, fish, olive oil and salads are best. Are these myths based on hearsay or is there a scientific basis for them?

Nobody has yet devised a readily usable index for 'how good' or 'how bad' any particular food, food group or diet is for our arteries, heart and circulation. Can certain foods protect us from heart attacks and strokes? If so, how strong might each protective nutrient be? Perhaps, only drugs like 'statins' can be relied on to do the job.

I was once asked by a heart patient of mine (who had just had a heart by-pass), what he should eat to help protect his arteries. I had to admit I wasn't sure. So, I undertook some research. Some animal experiments have observed artery 'furring' in relationship to various nutrients. There were those that caused 'furring', while others had a protective effect.

Although, I did manage to collect together a few damaging nutrients, like saturated fat, I was only able to find sixteen protective ones. Soon, other questions arose. Where are these nutrients to be found in food? And, how much does each food contain? How bad are the damaging nutrients, and how good the protective ones?

Few books list the full nutrient content of natural foods; that of prepared foods often remaining secret. Even then, not every known protective nutrient will be listed. Nutrients like allicin (in garlic), resveratrol and flavonoids in wine and deep colored fruit - all likely to be of importance - but rarely mentioned.

We have long needed a usable index for both potential effects; alternatively, one could use their ratio - the Cardiac Value of Food. But wait! Perhaps it's not the ratio that counts most. Perhaps the 'good' nutrients easily overwhelm the dangerous effects of the 'bad' ones. That vital question has yet to be answered.

This book introduces an index for each food, food group and diet, based not on hearsay, but on actual nutrient content. This is a new approach to food choice, especially for those with a family history of coronary heart disease and those who already have it.

As a cardiologist with almost 60-years of experience, I have always had doubts about the role food plays in the generation of artery 'furring' (atherosclerosis), coronary artery disease, heart attacks and strokes. I don't believe those who carry strong artery 'furring' genes will completely overcome their problem, just by choosing what I think is best to eat. But since we must all eat, there will be best and worst food choices to consider. I believe those with no trace of 'furring' genes can probably eat what they like, regardless of any best or worst food concept, taken from either animal experiments or population studies.

If we are to get the maximum nutrient benefit for the heart and circulation, taking supplements might be the answer. At least, there should not be any damaging nutrients or too many calories.

In the meantime, most of us have one prominent desire - to enjoy the food we eat; foods that hopefully help us to survive healthily within our social and cultural groups.