The veggie that heals like daily aspirin!

Chronic inflammation is like a five-alarm fire that raises your risk of heart disease. Fortunately, researchers have pinpointed simple strategies that can douse the flame, cutting your risk of heart woes 50%! The keys:

Whisking trouble ✓ away with chickpeas!

Or other beans, red-skinned peanuts and oats. All are packed with saponins, plant compounds that help your liver quickly disarm inflammation and excrete it before it can damage the lining of artery walls or cause other trouble. No wonder just eating three cups of saponin-rich foods weekly is enough to lower your body-wide levels of inflammation—and your heart disease risk!—25% in just 14 days, according to researchers at East Carolina University.

Protecting your ✓ arteries with algae!

A daily 12-mg. dose of astaxanthin, a nutrient extracted from algae, is such a powerful inflammation-tamer that supplementing with it could cut your risk of heart disease 50%, reports the Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis. Astaxanthin speeds the breakdown of inflammation in your bloodstream, plus repairs any tissues attacked by inflammation, says study coauthor Hiroshige Itakura, PH.D. One option: Nutrex Hawaii’s Bioastin ($10 for 25 gel caps, iherb.com). Important: Check with a doctor before starting a new supplement.

Revving immune cells ✓ with carrots

Eating three cups of carrots, sweet potatoes or other orange vegetables weekly could lower your risk of heart- damaging inflammation 42%—making these veggies as effective an anti-inflammatory as aspirin, according to Harvard University researchers. Credit goes to carotenoids, nutrients that help your white blood cells produce just enough inflammation to kill off viruses and other germs, but not so much that your own tissues are harmed.

Taming a big trigger ✓ with walks

Belly fat doesn’t just make your pants snug—it also releases wastes called cytokines that promote inflammation! Luckily, you can reduce your cytokine levels 33% in one month simply by walking briskly 30 minutes a day, reveals a report in the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. Physical activity switches off the belly-fat genes that encourage cytokine formation, says study coauthor Young Kim, M.D. ■ Bonus: Those walks could help you shed up to 12 pounds of belly fat in the first year, according to University of Alabama scientists.

Inhibiting ✓ inflammation with garlic and onions

Sugar, white flour, trans fats, chemical additives . . . even if you’re careful, ingredients that encourage inflammation can sneak into some of your meals. Fortunately, guarding against them is as easy as eating one clove of garlic or 1/4 cup of onions daily, Canadian researchers say. These flavor-enhancers are full of unique compounds that inhibit inflammation in the digestive tract— even on days when you eat foods that are known to be inflammatory triggers! ■ Bonus: A daily dose of garlic or onions will reduce your risk of stomach and colon cancer 44%, European researchers say.