PERTH, Australia—Drinking red wine or coffee and eating chocolate is not as effective as eating a variety of plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole-grain breads and cereals, nuts and seeds every day to prevent heart disease, according to the National Heart Foundation of Australia’s recent summary of research on antioxidants.
The Heart Foundation reviewed more than 100 studies to confirm that eating fruit and vegetables and drinking tea helps lower the risk of heart disease. Specifically, the Heart Foundation recommends:
● Eat at least two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day.
● Drink black or green tea, and if you add milk, use reduced, low or no fat milk.
● Use raw cocoa powder in drinks and cooking as most commercial cocoa and chocolate will be poor sources of antioxidants.
● If you drink alcohol, drink no more than two standard drinks a day.
● If you drink coffee, drink less than five cups of paper-filtered, percolated, café style or instant coffee a day.