A healthy diet can help lower genetic risk factors for heart disease

If heart attacks run in your family, it doesn’t mean you’re doomed to have one, too. A new study shows healthy eating could help change your fate — by altering your genes! An international team of scientists led by Canadian researchers examined more than 27,000 people and found those with a high-risk genotype significantly lowered their odds of heart attacks by eating lots of raw vegetables and fruits every day. “It’s exciting. Our study shows healthy diets can actually ‘turn off’ genetic risk factors for disease,” says lead researcher Sonia Anand of McMaster University.

Bottom line: Eating five or more servings of leafy vegetables and fruit a day can weaken — and possibly even switch off — one of the strongest DNA markers for heart attacks.