Five Daily Portions of Fruits and Vegetables May Lower Your Risk of Death

Want to live longer? Then you may want to start eating more fruits and veggies. Scientists have found that eating five daily portions of fruit and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of death from any cause, particularly from cardiovascular disease.

In previous studies, scientists found that seven or more daily portions were linked to the lowest risk of death. These new findings, though, actually suggest that any more than five portions appear to have no further effect.

In order to see how increased fruit and vegetable consumption might impact health, the researchers analyzed the results of sixteen studies involving a total of 833,234 participants and 56,423 deaths.  They found that, perhaps not surprisingly, a higher consumption of fruit and veggies was associated with a lower risk of death.

The scientists took matters a step further, though. They wanted to know exactly how many servings each day would be optimal for health. They found that the average risk of death from all causes was reduced by 5 percent for each additional daily serving of fruit and veggies, while all cardiovascular death was reduced by 4 percent for each additional daily serving.

That's not all, either. They also found that there was a threshold around five servings per day. After this amount, the risk of death was not further reduced. In addition, they found that a higher consumption of fruits and veggies was not appreciably associated with a risk of death from cancer.

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," write the researchers in a news release. "The results support current recommendations to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables to promote health and longevity."

The findings are published in the journal BMJ.