The really big vegetable with stroke-fighting power

Your heart beats about 80 times every single minute.

That’s 4,800 times per hour and an amazing 115,200 times per day. In one year (just 365 days) that’s 42,048,000 times which means by the time you reach 70 years old, it will have beat 2,943,360,000 times.

And, each and every one of those times, your blood vessels have to expand and contract as blood flows to and from your heart.

So, if they’re not working properly, your heart’s not working properly either.

When you think about it that way, it really puts into perspective how vital your blood vessels are to whether or not you have a healthy heart or you’re in constant danger.

Luckily, science has just given us a new way to protect the health of our blood vessels and our heart health along with them… And, you just might prevent a stroke or heart attack as a bonus.

One of the earth’s most massive veggies

Radishes — which are a great source of antioxidants (compounds proven to boost heart health), have been reported to have the power to lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of clots that lead to both heart attacks and strokes.

But to date, no one was sure why or which varieties of radishes offered the biggest bang for your buck.

Thanks to a team of researchers at Kagoshima University in Japan, both of those questions have now been answered definitively.

To make their determination, the scientists used pig endothelial cells (the ones that line the blood vessels) since they closely resemble the cells of our own blood vessels and exposed them to extracts from multiple types of radishes.

And, they found that the reason that radishes improve the health of your blood vessels and do such a great job at preventing clots is that they increase the formation of nitric oxide in blood vessel cells.

I’ve written about the importance of nitric oxide (NO) before. NO is a gas molecule that helps to relax blood vessels allowing them to dilate so blood can flow — and has been recognized in over 130,000 published scientific papers as a vital signaling molecule that supports healthy blood vessels and blood pressure.

And, although all radishes tested were helpful, one stood out above the pack — way above the pack.

The monster radish known as the Sakurajima Daikon.

In fact, it improved NO formation significantly more than any other radish tested.

A Guinness world record champion

If you haven’t heard of the Sakurajima Daikon before, you’re probably not alone. It’s a much more common variety in Japan than it is here in the U.S.

To get you up to speed, you should know that it’s one of the Earth’s most massive vegetables — so much so that a Sakurajima weighing nearly 69 pounds is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s heaviest radish.

As I’m sure you can imagine, since they are so big, they’re rarely sold in American grocery stores.

But, don’t worry.

If you want to use NO to make your heart and blood vessels significantly healthier, you have easier options…

Beets, like you can find right here in the good old USA, are an excellent source of the nitrates necessary for NO production.

Researchers at Indiana University found that patients who drank beet juice had increases in breath nitric oxide of between 25 and 50 percent. This significantly improved both their endurance and oxygen uptake.

In a 2008 study, drinking 8 ounces of beet juice lowered subjects’ blood pressure by 10mm Hg (a ten-point drop in blood pressure).

I found the easiest way to consume beets is a beets powder mix. It’s much easier to prepare than fresh, messy beets that can stain anything they touch — and I’m sure taking on a giant radish would be just as difficult. Just mix with water or your favorite juice, and sit back and wait for the NO production to begin.

Here’s to easier health options!