Useful info! Broccoli is heart healthy. Well yeah… that makes me happy considering my kids love those green tree tops (I make them eat the stems as well, I am such a mean mommy).
University of Connecticut researchers have associated broccoli with producing helpful proteins that aid damaged cardiac cells and tissue.
The broccoli diet appears to persuade the body to produce a protein called thioredoxin, which protects against cell damage in the heart. Broccoli contains sulforaphane, which is seen as particularly effective in triggering this process.
Don’t overcook or boil your beautiful green veggie though- lightly steamed broccoli helps to retain …read more

Test question… True or False? There is a no difference between diabetic and non diabetic hearts in how they burn energy. Hmm, I am going to bet that at least half of you got this answer correct. If you answered false, you are a big winner!
Diabetic hearts rely almost exclusively on fats for energy while a “normal” heart relies on fats and sugars for food.
Let me break it down for you. Both PPAR-alpha and PPAR-beta/delta are proteins that are found in heart tissue. In the diabetic heart, enhanced activity of PPAR-alpha drives the use of fats as fuel, but the …read more

Dr. Ivor Benjamin and colleagues at the University of Utah said the protein alpha B-Crystallin normally helps other proteins fold inside cells. When it works properly, the cell produces the correct amount of reduced glutathione, which is healthy for the body — but if the gene that makes alpha B-Crystallin is mutated, the protein unfolds improperly into aggregates and produces reduced glutathione in such excessive levels that it harms the heart.
I know, I know, what in the world are they talking about? Don’t worry, I am here to de-code this for you. It is a simple case of …read more