Study: Eating More Fruits and Vegetables May Extend Life Expectancy

Vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, carotenoids and polyphenols are all found in fruits and vegetables. Recent surveys have shown that fruits, vegetables and other vegetables may help lower the risk of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease. disease Cancers.

Atsushi Nakagama, a professor at Yokohama City University and Hitoshi Nakagama (the president of the National Cancer Center Japan), conducted a 20 year study. research survey On the relationship between eating fruits, vegetables, and all-cause death. The results were published in Journal of Nutrition, an Oxford journal based in the UK. They showed that people who ate more vegetables and fruits had a 7-8 percent lower risk of dying over the past 20 years than those who ate less.

AtsushiGoto said that American and European research has previously shown that increasing intake of fruits and vegetables can effectively reduce the likelihood of cardiovascular disease and all-cause death. But, the lifestyle, diet, and heredity that westerners follow is different than those of Asians. The research team chose 95,000 male and women volunteers between 40 and 69 years old from 11 Japanese cities and prefectures, after exclusion of patients with heart disease, cancer, and liver diseases, to conduct a long-term questionnaire survey.

Based on the questionnaire responses, researchers compile statistics on participants’ daily fruit- and vegetable intake and divide them into five categories according to their level of intake. The control group was the one with the lowest amount of fruits and vegetables. This group was compared to other groups for the risk of dying from all-cause, heart disease, cancer, and other respiratory diseases.

In 2018, 20 years later than the original investigation, the following-up investigations revealed that the risk all-cause mortality was lower in the high-fruits and vegetable intake group. However, the risk of death from cardiovascular disease was approximately 9 percent.

Analysing fruit intake revealed that all-cause mortality was lower in those who ate the most fruits, while the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was lower by 13%. This was most noticeable for women.

An analysis of vegetable intake showed that those who consumed more vegetables had a 7 percent higher risk of dying than those who consumed less.

It was discovered that higher fruit intake was associated with lower mortality in males than in females.

According to the result of the analysis, the research team concluded that vegetables and fruits, which are rich in vitamins and dietary fiber, play an important role in people’s health. Consuming more than 300g vegetables daily and more than 140g fruits per day is recommended.

“I hope this research result can provide data as a basic reference to the general public about the daily intake of fruits and vegetables,” said Atsushi Goto.

Harvard T.H. researchers also did research on nearly 1.9million people worldwide. Research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other institutions revealed that adequate fruit and vegetable intake can help extend life expectancy. The research findings were published Circulation, an American medical journal, March 2021.

Research has shown that not all fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of death. Starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, corn, and peas and some juices, do not lower the risk of death due to all-cause or certain chronic conditions.

Research has shown that green leafy vegetables like spinach, lettuce and kale, as well as citrus fruits and berries, are all beneficial in reducing the risk for all-cause and cause specific mortality.

Ellen Wan has been working for The Epoch Times Japanese Edition since 2007.