Thickened neck arteries may result to cardiovascular diseases and a regular consumption of vegetables can prevent that happening. A newly-studied case narrated in Journal of the American Heart Association (the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association) stated that Australian elderly women who consumed more amounts of vegetables were less prone to the threat of carotid artery wall thickening.
Study lead author, Lauren Blekkenhorst, from the University of Western Australia in Crawley said that this is just one of the few analyses that had looked deeper into the plausible positive effects of vegetable intakes to the fundamental causes of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, researchers conducted a food frequency survey to 954 Australian women aged 70 and up. The women commented that their vegetable intake reaches to the point where they never eat vegetables to the point where they eat 3 or more times each day. It was found out that, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussels, allium like onions, garlics, leeks and shallots, several kinds of leafy vegetables, and legumes were emphasized to be the most beneficial.
Atherosclerosis and 
Cardiovascular Disease
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) mentioned that Atherosclerosis is believed to be the major cause of cardiovascular disease. According to an article posted in the website called Myers Detox, written by Wendy Myers, a heavy metals detox expert and a functional diagnostic nutritionist from Los Angeles, California, Atherosclerosis or in simpler words, the hardening of the arteries takes place when fat, cholesterol, and other harmful substances accumulate in the walls of the arteries that build up plaques which, eventually, causes endothelial injury or the so called damage in the lining of the artery walls. Moreover, these plaques may also break down into smaller chunks and may block smaller blood vessels. If ever the clot entirely impedes the blood and oxygen supply to different regions of arteries leading to the heart, the tissue starts to die just within a short period of time.
Sonograms, Examinations, and Results
As stated by the website RSNA Radio Graphics, Sonography or Ultrasonography is a well-known, reliable and painless imaging method that measures carotid artery wall thickness. Fortunately, this technique was successfully utilized by the time of the examination.
According to the conducted study, health experts noticed 0.05 millimeter less carotid artery wall thickness among the patients, within the high and low vegetable ingestion. This study is relevant since if there is 0.1 millimeter reduction in the thickness of the carotid wall, it means there is a 10% lower risk of cardiovascular problems such as stroke and heart attack. Another, each 10 grams intake of cruciferous vegetable each day was associated with 0.8 % lessen carotid artery wall thickness, although some types of vegetables did not show any difference. Blekkenhorst aforementioned that through the constant healthy lifestyle and the habitual consumption of vegetables may continuously display progress.
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