Courtesy of Elaine Magee

More Americans die of heart disease than any other cause of death. In 2006, for example, over 629,000 people died of heart disease compared to over 560,000 who died of cancer. To prevent heart disease, we all know to get regular exercise, eat a healthy diet, and avoid smoking.

In this article, to give you a better idea of what comprises a heart-healthy diet, I’ll introduce five foods that help your heart. (In my next article, to be published on June 15, we’ll cover five foods that seem to hurt your heart.)

Let's get started with the first of the five heart-healthy foods!

Get crazy for cruciferous veggies

I would call the family of vegetables that includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower (cruciferous veggies) “super vegetables” because they are loaded with protective and powerful components.

Sulforaphane is one of these components. Possible health benefits of sulforaphane have been in the research for a few years now, but a new study from UCLA added a possible new benefit—the researchers linked sulforaphane with anti-inflammatory action in the body.

Here’s how it seems to work: Sulforaphane stimulates an increase in production of antioxidant enzymes in the nasal airway, which work to protect against tissue-damaging free radicals that we breathe in from pollution, pollen, tobacco, etc.

When we decrease tissue damage, we are decreasing inflammation in the body. This is probably just the beginning of what this phytochemical does for us because sulforaphane appears to increase a whole assortment of antioxidant enzymes in the body—all potentially helping to protect the body.

Where do we get it?

Broccoli sprouts are the top food source of sulforaphane. In the UCLA study, when people ate broccoli, they had a two- to three-fold increase in antioxidant enzymes in the nasal airway compared to that of people who ate a vegetable with no sulforaphane. It’s too early for researchers to recommend a particular dosage of sulforaphane or number of servings of sulforaphane-rich foods, but eating cruciferous vegetables at least several times a week is certainly a smart bet.