From exercise to good dieting there are a number of factors that impact on our cardiovascular health. Medical specialists and dieticians are better placed to explain how these are important and the steps you need to follow to achieve better health.

For instance they’ll tell you green leafy vegetables are better than cooked food. But for the common people that we are, the reasoning behind this is not always clear to us. Things complicate even more when we are told “Eat vegetables, and don’t spit if you want to achieve better cardiovascular health”. Does that make sense?

Funny and awkward as it may seem, researchers have indeed found that eating vegetables and not spitting afterwards is linked with improved cardiovascular health. They’ve carried out tests with positive results. Are you still with me? Let’s see how.

Vegetables contain nitrate which is concentrated in our saliva after eating. The nitrate is not the “good stuff” we’ll be talking about. Don’t jiggle already. Nitrate is biologically inactive. The “good stuff” is nitrite (“i” not “a”) which results by the action of bacteria in our mouths (yeah, the bacteria that stink our mouths) on the nitrate. Our saliva is thus enriched in nitrite. When we swallow it the nitrite is absorbed in our bloodstream, thus reducing our blood pressure and improving our vascular well-being.

Want to know more? Why not read “Eat Your Vegetables and Don’t Spit” at Dr. Richard N. Fogoros’s Heart Disease Blog which deals with a variety of heart health related issues.

You may also wish to refer to the following links:

- Losing weight with bananas!

- A healthier heart

To your health.

Alfa King Memories