Eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day is healthier than the five currently recommended and would prolong lives, according to researchers at University College London (UCL).
A study of 65,226 men and women indicated the more fruit and vegetables people ate, the less likely they were to die - at any age.
It found that “seven a day” cut death risk by 42%, against “five a day” by 29%. It also recommended that the daily intake of fruit and veg should be increased to 10, double the current recommendation by the Government.
The research also suggested that vegetables are more effective at warding off an early death than fruit. Two to three daily portions of vegetables resulted in a 19% lower risk of death among those studied, compared with 10% for the equivalent amount of fruit.
“We all know that eating fruit and vegetables is healthy, but the size of the effect is staggering,” said the study’s lead author Dr Oyinlola Oyebode of UCL’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. “The clear message here is that the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die at any age.”
