Study Hall: Women with high-fiber diets have a lower risk of heart disease

For Study Hall each week, we sort through the deluge of new medical studies and wordy white papers to bring you one that deserves your attention—in plain, healthy English.

Keep stocking up on fruits and veggies from the farmer’s market.  According to a recent study published online in the journal PLoS ONE, women who eat diets high in fiber are less likely to develop heart disease.

The study: Researchers from Lund University in Sweden monitored the diets and incidence of heart disease in about 20,000 residents of Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city. Participants logged their meals and filled out a questionnaire, and the researchers noted if they developed cardiovascular disease or had strokes.

The results: Women who ate diets high in fiber had a 25 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than women who ate low-fiber diets. The same did not apply to men (although those who consumed more fiber had fewer strokes). The researchers hypothesized that the difference may have been because men consumed most of their fiber from bread products, whereas the women consumed fiber from fruits and vegetables.

What it means: An apple a day (plus lots of green veggies and other fruits) really will help keep the doctor away. Specifically, the cardiologist. —Allison Becker