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New evidence linking fruit and vegetable
consumption with lower mortality
New evidence linking fruit and vegetable
consumption with lower mortality
Date:
March 31,
2014
Source:
University College London
Summary:
Eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables
a day reduces your risk of death at any point in time by 42 percent compared to
eating less than one portion, reports a new study. This is the first study to
link fruit and vegetable consumption with all-cause, cancer and heart disease
deaths in a nationally-representative population, the first to quantify health
benefits per-portion, and the first to identify the types of fruit and
vegetable with the most benefit.
............................
Eating seven
or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day reduces your risk of death at
any point in time by 42% compared to eating less than one portion, reports a
new UCL study.
Researchers
used the Health Survey for England to study the eating habits of 65,226 people
representative of the English population between 2001 and 2013, and found that
the more fruit and vegetables they ate, the less likely they were to die at any
age. Eating seven or more portions reduces the specific risks of death by
cancer and heart disease by 25% and 31% respectively. The research also showed
that vegetables have significantly higher health benefits than fruit.
This is the
first study to link fruit and vegetable consumption with all-cause, cancer and
heart disease deaths in a nationally-representative population, the first to
quantify health benefits per-portion, and the first to identify the types of
fruit and vegetable with the most benefit.
Compared to
eating less than one portion of fruit and vegetables, the risk of death by any
cause is reduced by 14% by eating one to three portions, 29% for three to five
portions, 36% for five to seven portions and 42% for seven or more. These
figures are adjusted for sex, age, cigarette smoking, social class, Body Mass
Index, education, physical activity and alcohol intake, and exclude deaths
within a year of the food survey.
The study,
published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found
that fresh vegetables had the strongest protective effect, with each daily
portion reducing overall risk of death by 16%. Salad contributed to a 13% risk
reduction per portion, and each portion of fresh fruit was associated with a
smaller but still significant 4% reduction.
"We all
know that eating fruit and vegetables is healthy, but the size of the effect is
staggering," says Dr Oyinlola Oyebode of UCL's Department of Epidemiology
& Public Health, lead author of the study. "The clear message here is
that the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die at
any age. Vegetables have a larger effect than fruit, but fruit still makes a
real difference. If you're happy to snack on carrots or other vegetables, then
that is a great choice but if you fancy something sweeter, a banana or any
fruit will also do you good."
The findings
lend support to the Australian government's 'Go for 2 + 5' guidelines, which
recommend eating two portions of fruit and five of vegetables. The UK
Department of Health recommends '5 a day', while 'Fruit and Veggies -- More
Matters' is the key message in the USA.
"Our
study shows that people following Australia's 'Go for 2 + 5' advice will reap
huge health benefits," says Dr Oyebode. "However, people shouldn't
feel daunted by a big target like seven. Whatever your starting point, it is
always worth eating more fruit and vegetables. In our study even those eating
one to three portions had a significantly lower risk than those eating less
than one"
The
researchers found no evidence of significant benefit from fruit juice, and
canned and frozen fruit appeared to increase risk of death by 17% per portion.
The survey did not distinguish between canned and frozen fruit so this finding
is difficult to interpret. Canned fruit products are almost four times more
popular than frozen fruit in Europe*, so it is likely that canned fruit
dominated this effect.
"Most
canned fruit contains high sugar levels and cheaper varieties are packed in syrup
rather than fruit juice," explains Dr Oyebode. "The negative health
impacts of the sugar may well outweigh any benefits. Another possibility is
that there are confounding factors that we could not control for, such as poor
access to fresh groceries among people who have pre-existing health conditions,
hectic lifestyles or who live in deprived areas."
*Note: 13.0m
tons of canned fruit and vegetables were sold in the EU in 2008 compared to
3.7m for frozen fruit and vegetables.
Story
Source:
The above story
is based on materials provided by University College London. Note: Materials may be
edited for content and length.
Journal
Reference:
- Oyinlola Oyebode, Vanessa Gordon-Dseagu, Alice Walker, Jennifer S Mindell. Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause, cancer and CVD mortality: analysis of Health Survey for England data. J Epidemiol Community Health, 31 March 2014 DOI: 10.1136/jech-2013-203500