Gofio is a natural food with incredible properties to take care of cardiovascular and heart health, and its daily consumption is recommended. We discover more about these qualities.
If you live in the Canary Islands it is evident that you already know what gofio is and that you have even tried it on some occasion or other. If so, it is also quite likely that each morning you will have a few tablespoons of gofio for breakfast with your usual latte. But if not, perhaps when you discover the results obtained in a scientific study, you will consider this possibility. But let’s go in parts.
Gofio is the popular name for toasted flour in the Canary Islands. That is to say, we are facing a wonderful food made up of a non-sifted flour of different toasted cereals, usually millet or wheat, thus becoming a delicious mixture of roasted and stone-ground grains.
In the Canarian Archipelago, for example, it is common to consume it with milk, in certain dishes (for example in stews, purees and broths) or it is also widely used in the preparation of desserts.
It stands out without a doubt for being a totally natural food, in whose preparation only natural techniques are used, such as stone processing, not containing preservatives or colorants.
Moreover, from a nutritional point of view, it is surprising due to its high content of vitamins, among which we can mention vitamins of the B complex (such as B1, B2 and B3), vitamin A, C and D. It also provides minerals, such as the case of iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium and zinc, in addition to amino acids and omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
The research we were talking about at the beginning of this note was carried out between 2007 and 2014 and its results have recently been known. The study was carried out with data collected in a thousand patients between 70 and 80 years old who presented symptoms of chest pain who were requested a stress test.
At that time, the research work began in order to study whether the consumption of gofio had an influence on exercise capacity, as well as on the risk of coronary artery disease.
With all this, the study revealed that older people who consumed gofio regularly for at least 40 years had better functional capacity, a lower risk of suffering from coronary artery disease and a higher proportion in passing stress tests.
According to the results obtained with the study, published in the journal, the sustained consumption of gofio is very beneficial for our health, since its prolonged intake helps reduce cardiovascular risk.
As specialists recall, in the 21st century, cardiovascular disease continues to be the most frequent cause of mortality, adding in turn that maintaining adequate physical well-being and following a healthy cereal-based diet is essential for its prevention.
