'Polymeal' Cuts Heart Disease Risk
December 21, 2004
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers have discovered the Polymeal -- a combined meal of seven food components that could reduce cardiovascular disease by more than 75 percent.
These findings follow the development of the Polypill in 2003, which is a combination of drugs taken in one dose to reduce heart disease by more than 80 percent. The authors of the Polymeal study set out to find a non-drug alternative that is safer and poses no side effects.
The Polymeal includes wine, fish, dark chocolate, fruits and vegetables, almonds and garlic, which are eaten on a daily basis (except four times a week only of fish). Researchers figured out how much each ingredient cuts heart disease individually and then worked out the combined effects of the components. Finally, they calculated the potential effect among Americans in an ongoing study.
Results of the diet were most dramatic for men, who were projected to live on average 6.6 years longer in total and nine years longer without heart disease compared to those not on the diet. Women, however, still had significant benefits. Women on the Polymeal will live five years longer and delay the onset of heart disease for eight years.
Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death in Western populations, and the authors note we are all at risk from the causes of heart disease. They continue on to say following the Polymeal promises to be an effective, non-drug, safe and tasty way to increase life expectancy and reduce heart disease across the population.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, 2004;329:1447-1450
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