It may easily top the charts as one of the most inedible looking fruits. The outside of Kiwi (Chinese goose berry) looks dull, drab and most unappetizing.
Cut one open and the results are not likely to get any better. Worse may be, the neon green flesh speckled with black seeds isn’t likely to whet your appetite either, considering the fancy price you may pay for one. But this is no time for kiwi-phobia. In fact it is time to hear some good news, especially for those few who really and truly love this fruit.
A new study suggests that eating just a couple of kiwis a day can actually lower the risks of heart disease for you. In the Norwegian study researchers Of the University of Oslo made over thirty healthy young volunteers eat two to three kiwis a day.
The results, it was noticed were most amazing. In a matter of just a 28 days, these two or three kiwis a day had brought down the participants plasma triglyceride levels by 15% and their blood platelet stickiness (technically blood platelet aggregation or clotting tendency) too had dropped 18%.
As it is common knowledge now that high triglyceride levels are a major risk factor for heart diseases, even if your cholesterol levels are normal, this makes for a pretty important development in the area of heart ailments.
The other important factor which increases the chances of heart diseases occurring is the stickiness of blood platelets. The more the stickiness of blood platelets the greater the chances of blood clot formations, which in turn means the greater the chances of strokes and heart attack.
Platelet inhibitory drugs, such as aspirin, have been shown to reduce the incidence of myocardial infraction, stroke and death from cardiovascular disease, said the lead researcher Prof.
Asim Duttaroy of the Institute for Medical Sciences at the University of Oslo.
Aspirin, a member of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) class is one of the most commonly used medications taken by millions of people (14 million in the US alone) on a daily basis and has been recently recommended by cardiologists as a means of protecting against cardiovascular events.
But there is a massive flip side to all its goodness. All the drugs in this (NSAID) class are known to cause inflammation and ulcers in the GI tract on prolonged usage and this massive exposure takes its toll. Each year, around 100,000 people are hospitalized and 10,000-20,000 die each year from NSAID-related complications.
Kiwis recommended for ages as a natural healer in the traditional Chinese medicine system has much more to offer in addition to its heart healthy attributes. It is known to be a nutrient-dense fruits, it contains twice as much vitamin C as oranges, much more potassium than bananas and is also rich in fibers, magnesium, vitamin B9 and vitamin E.
So the next time you feel the urge to reach out for chocolate, reach out for this fuzzy skinned fruit instead and you would be doing your heart and health a world of good.
