The health benefits of vegetables and fruit rise with consumption, finds study.

People who eat seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day have the lowest risk of mortality from any cause, say researchers. And vegetables have significantly higher health benefits than fruit, says the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.(1)

Researchers from University College London used the 2001-08 Health Survey for England to look at the eating habits of a random sample of 65 226 participants aged 35 and older. This was linked to UK mortality data up to the first quarter of 2013. After excluding deaths within a year of the survey and adjusting for age, sex, smoking, social class, education, body mass index, alcohol consumption, and physical activity the researchers found that eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables reduced the risk of death at any point in time by 42% compared with eating less than one portion hazard ratio 0.58 (95% confidence interval 0.46 to 0.71)). Eating seven or more portions reduced the risk of cancer deaths by 25% and of deaths from heart disease by 31%, the study found.