The evidence grows showing that increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet results in a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer. A new study published in the British Medical Journal showed that eating five daily portions of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of death from any cause.
Researchers from China and the United States did a meta analysis (examining the results of numerous studies all put together) examining this association. They analysed the results of sixteen studies involving a total of greater than 800,000 study subjects . Higher consumption of fruits and vegetables was significantly associated with a lower risk of death from all causes, and especially from cardiovascular diseases. The average risk of death from all causes was reduced by 5% for each additional daily serving of fruit and vegetable.
They also said that the benefit leveled off at five servings per day, after which the risk of death did not reduce further. This interpretation did conflict with a recent study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health which suggested that seven or more daily portions of fruits and vegetables were linked to an even lower lowest risk of death than five servings per day.
Whether there is evidence that greater than five servings lowers the death risk even more or not, the bottom line is that the average American needs to be counseled that eating fruits and vegetables as a significant part of their daily diet is the healthy way to eat !
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