New research appears to confirm the benefits of ‘eating your greens'.

According to UK scientists, consuming leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli and cabbage, can help improve the health of the heart and reduce the risk of a stroke.

They found that a simple chemical called nitrate, which is found in these vegetables, can help thin the blood. This results in oxygen being delivered to all parts of the body more efficiently.

Thinning the blood may also reduce the risk of potentially dangerous blood clots, which reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The scientists noted that when a person has heart disease, their blood often becomes thicker because the body wants to get more oxygen into the blood stream, and so it produces more red blood cells.

However while in theory thick blood may carry more oxygen, it is less able to move through small blood vessels. As a result, some tissues and organs may not get the amount of oxygen they need to function properly.

This new study suggests that people may be able to alter how thick their blood is by making a simple change to their diet - eating more nitrate-rich leafy green vegetables.

"Here we show that nitrate from the diet can help regulate the delivery of oxygen to cells and tissues and its use, matching oxygen supply and demand. This ensures cells and tissues in the body have enough oxygen to function without needing to over produce red blood cells, which can make the blood too thick and compromise health.

"Lowering the blood's thickness without compromising oxygen delivery may also help prevent blood clots, reducing the risk of a stroke or heart attack," commented the study's co-lead author, Dr Andrew Murray of the University of Cambridge.

The scientists noted that the best thing about nitrate is that ‘it is not expensive, treatment is not invasive and not much is needed to observe a significant effect."

However they acknowledged that one downfall is ‘some people don't like vegetables'.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

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