A new study in Stockholm, Sweden tested the effects of omega-3 fatty acids enhanced margarine. 4,837 heart attack survivors, aged 60 to 80, were given omega-3 enriched margarine to spread on their bread for 40 months. The participants were divided into 4 groups, each group were given a different spread.

One group was given margarine with low doses of DHA and EPA, omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. The second group received ALA derived from soybean oil and walnuts. The third group was given margarine with all three fatty acids. The last group was given a placebo margarine.

The end of the study resulted in 14% of the heat attack survivors had experienced another cardiac event. However, women may benefit from fatty acids their margarine. 25% of women were less likely to suffer a cardiac event if they ate the ALA-enhanced margarine, but this finding could be greatly attributed to chance.

An American Heart Association spokesperson said omega-3 enriched margarine is an inefficient means of obtaining omega-3 fatty acids. Margarine on bread increases the chance of weight gain, one of the main causes of cardiac events. Instead of margarine, 2 to 3 servings of fish a week is a great way of getting omega-3 fatty acids in your diet.

Just being in the grocery store can be overwhelming, but to make a list of all the certain types of food to buy from this massive food warehouse can feel down-right impossible. So to help you out, we’ve put together a few tips from heart.org for the heart healthy shopper to keep in mind when looking to buy the right foods.

Fruits and Veggies:

Be sure to buy and eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables that are deeply colored throughout tend to be higher in vitamins and minerals than others.  When fresh foods aren’t available, choose frozen or canned vegetables and fruits in water without added sugars, saturated and Trans fat, or salt.

Stock up on raw vegetables for snacks such as carrot and celery sticks, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and cauliflower. It’s also a good idea fruits and vegetables that are good sources of fiber, including beans, peas, oranges, bananas, strawberries and apples.

Instead of buying more traditional desserts, try fresh or canned fruits without added sugars, dried fruit without added sugars, and gelatin that contains fruit, instead of baked goods and sweets. While delicious and very good for you, fruit juice is no substitute for the real thing. It doesn’t provide the fiber whole fruit does and it’s not as good at satisfying hunger.

Dairy:

Select fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1%) milk and try to avoid milk that contains added flavorings such as vanilla, chocolate or strawberry, as they usually have added sugars and calories.

Buy fat-free, low-fat or reduced-fat cheeses and use egg whites or egg substitutes instead of egg yolks. Watch out for the saturated and/or partially hydrogenated fats hidden in casseroles, bakery goods, desserts and other foods. Read the Nutrition Facts label to determine the saturated fat, Trans fat and cholesterol content of foods you’re considering.

Meats:

Buy and prepare more fish. You should eat one serving of grilled or baked fish at least twice a week. (A serving is roughly the size of a checkbook.) Good examples of fish to buy include salmon, trout and herring. Choose lemon juice and spices to eat with fish; don’t add cream sauces and stay away from fried fish—it can be high in fat — often Trans fat.

Select more meat substitutes such as dried beans, peas, lentils or tofu (soybean curd) and use them as entrees or in salads and soups. A one-cup serving of cooked beans, peas, lentils or tofu can replace a two-ounce serving of meat, poultry or fish.

Pick up nuts and seeds, which are good sources of protein and polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats – but remember, they tend to be high in calories, so eat them in moderation.

Hopefully this information will make your grocery shopping experience a little easier and a lot healthier!

What other heart healthy grocery shopping tips do you have?

Every website, magazine, and even Doctor seems to have a general list of “Tips” for preventing cardiovascular problems. According to an article on WebMD, the American Heart Association suggests that the best “tip” for controlling and/or preventing heart disease is to personalize your approach rather than blindly following a general guideline.

One member of the team that released this finding said, “We need to do a better job finding ways to help people not only change their behaviors, but maintain them over a lifetime. As health care providers, we’re pretty good at saying that you are at risk for a disease, you need to lose weight, be more physically active, and eat more fruits and vegetables. While that’s easy to say, it’s not easy for the person to actually translate it into their everyday life.”

Here are some suggestions for easily integrating positive behavioral changes into your everyday life:

• Set realistic dietary and exercise goals

• Keep track of progress toward goals
• One-to-one counseling, which provides customized support to implementing and maintaining lifestyle changes
• Participate in small groups who share the same health-improvement goals
• See a health care provider that uses motivational interview techniques to encourage patients
• Seek counseling on how to manage setbacks
• Maintain recurring follow-up visits with doctors to update them on your progress and discuss concerns

Think you drink too much coffee? Well think again! According to a recent article on WebMD, studies show that drinkers of coffee and tea have a dramatically lower chance of dying from heart disease than those who abstain.

A recent study, which involved over 37,000 people from The Netherlands in the last 13 years, found the following:

• People who drank three to six cups of tea per day had a 45% lower risk of death from heart disease than people who drank less than one cup of tea a day.
• Drinking more than six cups of tea a day was associated with a 36% lower risk of heart disease, compared to drinking less than one cup.
• People who drank more than two, but no more than four, cups of coffee a day had about a 20% lower risk of heart disease than people who drank more or less coffee or no coffee at all.
• Moderate coffee consumption was associated with a slight, but not statistically significant, reduction in death from heart disease, but neither coffee nor tea affected stroke risk.

While 6 cups of tea may seem like a lot for one day, remember that a large mug of tea may contain 3 or more cups worth, and Iced Tea counts too!

The researchers believe that Flavonoids (powerful antioxidants) found in black and green tea and coffee may explain the beneficial effect seen in the study. Flavonoids are also found in other heart healthy foods and drinks such as red wine, red grapes, dark chocolate, blueberries, and red beans.

A new study confirms eating nuts on a daily basis lowers cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.

Researchers from Loma Linda University in California examined 25 studies from seven countries. 583 men and women with different levels of cholesterol were observed and none of them were taking cholesterol-lowering medications. All participates ate nuts which included almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, macadamia nuts, and peanuts.

On average, patients ate an average of 2.4 ounces daily. This resulted in an average 5.1% reduction in total cholesterol concentration, a 7.4% reduction in LDL (bad cholesterol), and an 8.3% reduction in the ratio of LDL to HDL (good cholesterol) levels.  Triglyceride measurements also declined by 10.2%, but only among people with initially high triglyceride levels.

Nuts also have a favorable effect on blood lipid levels and may lower coronary heart disease. Though, this only applied to those with a high LDL, low body mass index, and had Western diets.

However, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. To reap the benefits, one should eat no more than 3 ounces of nuts per day due to their high calorie density.

Americans love sugar. So much so that Americans on average consume 2.5 to 3 times the recommended amount. Excess sugar consumption is known to cause obesity, diabetes, and other conditions related to heart disease. Now new research show it may lead to unhealthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Added sugar is any type of caloric sweetener used in prepared or processed food. In this study, people who ate large amounts of added sugar had 3 times the risk of having low HDL which is a major risk factor in having heart disease.

Added sugar does not only add extra calories to food, it also has no nutritional value. Yet, it is found in almost everything from fruit juices to cereal. The American Heart Association advises only 6 teaspoons of sugar for women and 9 for men per day. Yet, a single can of soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar. At the end of the day, added sugars make up about 16% of our daily total calories.

The solution to this problem is to avoid foods with little to no added sugars. Reading the food label is a great way to spot added sugars, but differentiating natural sugars from added sugars can be a bit tricky. Basically, any words with syrup or end in “ose” like fructose are added sugars.

Though, the best method is to make a few simple changes to our diet, such as cutting out sugary drinks. Beverages are our number one source of added sugar and by eliminating it from our diet is a sure way to reduce added sugar intake.