Fruit and veg: how much is enough?

A new study provides fresh evidence that eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day lowers the chance of an early death. But does eating more than five portions work even better? Perhaps not.

What do we know already?

It’s familiar advice - eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day for good health. This is based on studies suggesting that people who eat more fruit and vegetables are less likely to get many illnesses, including heart disease and cancer, and tend to live longer.

However, there’s debate over just how many portions of fruit and vegetables is ideal. Although the Department of Health recommends eating five or more portions a day, a study published earlier this year suggests that people who eat at least seven portions a day have an even lower chance of dying early. So who’s right?

How was the new study done?

In the new study, researchers wanted to see what conclusions they might draw from a larger body of research. So they pooled the results of the best research done so far on this topic.

The researchers looked at 16 studies that asked people about their fruit and vegetable intake. In total, the studies followed more than 800,000 people for between four and 26 years. The researchers looked at how many people died during the years that these studies ran and then at how many portions of fruit and vegetables they usually ate. They also looked specifically at people’s chances of dying of heart disease and of cancer.

What does the new study say?

The researchers found a close relationship between how many portions of fruit and vegetables people ate each day and their chance of dying during the studies. Overall, people’s chance of dying dropped by 5 percent on average for each portion of fruit and vegetables they usually ate - up to five portions a day. People who ate more than five portions, however, weren’t any less likely to die during the studies than those who ate only five.

When the researchers looked at the causes of death, they found that people who ate more fruit and vegetables had a lower chance of dying from any cause or from heart disease. But they didn’t find a similar link with cancer.

How reliable is the research?

This review of studies should provide a reliable summary of what the current research tells us. But we need to be somewhat cautious about its findings, as many of the studies in the review had weaknesses.

For example, most of the studies asked people to fill in questionnaires about what they usually ate. This isn’t the most reliable way to record someone’s eating habits, as some people may not have answered honestly or accurately.

Also, the studies often didn’t account for factors that might have had an important effect on people’s chance of dying during the research. For example, most of the studies didn’t look at other aspects of the people’s diets, such as how much fat or processed meat they usually ate. It’s possible that people who ate more fruit and vegetables also had a healthier diet http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/news/20140730/fruit-and-veg-how-much-is-enough in other ways, and this is what lowered their chance of dying.

What does this mean for me?

Fruit and vegetables are an essential part of any healthy, well-balanced diet. This study won’t end the debate on how many portions of fruit and vegetables is best, but it does support current guidelines to eat at least five portions a day. The Department of Health defines one portion as 80 grams of a fruit or vegetable - roughly the amount in a medium banana or apple, three celery sticks, seven cherry tomatoes, or two broccoli florets.

Article By: http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/news/20140730/fruit-and-veg-how-much-is-enough