Just one junk food meal can up heart attack risk

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012,09:45

   

 

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Tags: Junk food meal,  Heart attack,  Cardiovascular disease

 

London: Eating even a single junk food meal can be enough to raise the risk of suffering a heart attack, cardiovascular disease or stroke in later life, new study led by an Indian-origin researcher has warned.

Experts at the EPIC Centre of Canada’s Montreal Heart Institute, affiliated to the University of Montreal, say the key to staving off heart disease and other illnesses caused by clogged arteries is to switch to a Mediterranean-style diet, based on healthy foods like oily fish, fresh vegetables and olive oil, the Daily Express reported.


Dr Anil Nigam, director of research at EPIC and associate professor at the university’s Faculty of Medicine compared the effects of junk food and a typical Mediterranean meal on the ability of arteries to dilate after a temporary five-minute blockage.

The research looked at 28 nonsmoking men, who ate a Mediterranean-type meal first and then a junk food-type meal one week later.

After the Mediterrean-style meal the men’s arteries were found to dilate normally and maintain good blood flow.

But after eating the junk food the arteries of the study participants dilated 24 per cent less than they did when in a fasting state.

The findings were presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.