Here's why you need to increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables

Washington [USA], June 9 (ANI): Here's another reason you're enjoying fruit and vegetables. According to a new study, insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables could explain millions of deaths each year due to heart disease and stroke.

The study presented at the "Nutrition 2019" meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center estimated that about 1 out of 7 cardiovascular deaths could be attributed to a fruit deficiency and that one in 12 cardiovascular deaths to one consumption insufficient vegetables.

According to researchers, low fruit consumption resulted in nearly 1.8 million cardiovascular deaths in 2010, while low vegetable consumption resulted in 1 million deaths.

Overall, suboptimal fruit consumption was almost double that of vegetables. The most severe impacts were observed in countries with the lowest average fruit and vegetable consumption.

"Fruits and vegetables are an editable component of the diet that can impact preventable deaths worldwide," said Victoria Miller, lead author of the study.

"Our results point to the need for people-centered efforts to increase fruit and vegetable consumption around the world," Miller said.

"Global priorities in nutrition have always been to provide enough calories, vitamin supplementation and reduce additives like salt and sugar," said Dariush Mozaffarian, lead author of the study.

"These results point to the need to expand the focus to increase the availability and consumption of protective foods like fruits, vegetables and legumes – a positive message with tremendous potential to improve global health," added Mozaffarian.

Based on dietary recommendations and studies on cardiovascular risk factors, the researchers defined an optimal fruit intake of 300 grams per day, equivalent to about two small apples. The optimal intake of vegetables, including legumes, has been set at 400 grams per day, which corresponds to about three cups of raw carrots.

The researchers estimated the average national intake of fruits and vegetables from food surveys and data on food availability representing 113 countries (about 82% of the world population) and then combined these with information with data on the causes of death in each country and data on the badociated cardiovascular risk. with insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables.

The impact of low fruit and vegetable consumption was particularly pronounced in countries with the lowest fruit and vegetable consumption. Countries in South Asia, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have low fruit consumption and a high rate of badociated stroke deaths. Countries in Central Asia and Oceania had low vegetable consumption and a high rate of coronary heart disease.

By age group, suboptimal consumption of fruits and vegetables had the largest proportional perceived impact on cardiovascular disease deaths among young adults. By bad, suboptimal consumption of fruits and vegetables had the largest proportional impact on deaths from cardiovascular disease in men, probably because women tend to eat more fruits and vegetables, Miller noted. (ANI)