A new study suggests health-food enthusiasts got it all wrong: Artificial flavorings in everything from barbecue potato chips to toothpaste may actually be good for you.

The reason: All sorts of artificial flavors contain salicylates, a chemical cousin of aspirin. And aspirin is known to reduce the risk of heart attacks by preventing blood clots.The new study found that people take in the equivalent of one baby aspirin a day from the artificial flavorings put in processed foods.

The researchers say that Americans' taste for artificial flavorings may help explain why fewer people are dying from heart attacks.

"We are presenting what we consider to be a plausible hypothesis, but it needs a lot more exploration," said Lillian M. Ingster of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md.

Deaths from heart attacks rose steadily through this century until about 30 years ago, when they began to fall. Experts have searched for reasons to explain this and have come up with several, including less smoking, lower consumption of saturated fats, better medicines and more exercise.

The problem, though, is that heart disease began to drop before most of the healthier living habits came into vogue.

"The decline in heart disease started rather abruptly in the mid-'60s. Within about three or four years it spread across the country. It's hard to imagine that something like cholesterol lowering or blood pressure treatment could explain it," said Ingster's colleague Dr. Manning Feinleib.

Salicylates in food "may be the missing link in explaining why this decline occurred when it did as widely as it did."

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Feinleib and Ingster presented their case for this new explanation Thursday at a conference sponsored by the American Heart Association.

The researchers said they are not telling people to change their eating habits. Certainly, eating more junk food would be an unhealthy way to take in more salicylates (variously pronounced suh-LIS-uh-LATE or SAL-uh-SIL-ate).

Artificial flavorings are found in baked goods, soda, candy, chewing gum, ketchup, ice cream, pudding and much more. Mouthwash and toothpaste have them.

Among the flavors that are often concocted with salicylates are strawberry, grape, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, mint, caramel and walnut.

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