Five Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Enough to Reduce Early Death Risk

Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables per day is enough to reduce early death risk, a new study has found.

The research challenges the idea that people should be eating more than '5 a day' to stay healthy.

The researchers found that five daily servings of fruits and vegetables cut premature death risk by 25 percent. However, additional servings didn't affect participants' health.

Several studies have shown the link between healthy eating habits and lower disease risk. Recently, researchers at the University College London and colleagues had found that eating at least seven daily portions is associated with a 42 percent lower risk of premature death.

The current study included researchers from the U.S and China. The team analyzed data from 16 studies that had a total of 833,234 participants and 56,423 deaths. Researchers found that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables was associated with lower risk of death from all causes, especially from heart-related causes.

The team found that for each additional serving of fruits and vegetables, average death risk from all causes fell by five percent. But, the benefits of fruits and vegetables peaked at about five servings a day.

The researchers said, according to a news release, that the study "provides further evidence that a higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of mortality from all causes, particularly from cardiovascular diseases. The results support current recommendations to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables to promote health and longevity."

"This study is another reminder that fruit and vegetables shouldn't be an afterthought but an essential part of our meals and snacks. Although our five a day message is well established worryingly 70% of adults are still not meeting this target," Victoria Taylor, Senior Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, told The Telegraph.

The study is published in BMJ's Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Related research has shown that eating fruits and vegetables lowers LDL (the bad cholesterol that causes heart diseases) in men and women. People can also reduce risk of diabetes type-2 by eating fruits and veggies, according to a new study published in the journal Diabetes Care.