NOT getting enough fruit or veg is putting millions at risk of deadly heart attack and stroke, an alarming new study has warned.
Around one in seven cardiovascular deaths are down to a lack of fruit, while one in 12 is caused by not eating enough vegetables.
The study says that low fruit intake accounted for nearly 1.8 million cardiovascular deaths in 2010, compared to a million vegetable-related deaths.
According to scientists from Tufts University, the damage caused by lack of fruit was almost double that of not getting enough veg.
“Fruits and vegetables are a modifiable component of diet that can impact preventable deaths globally,” said lead study author Victoria Miller from Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
“Our findings indicate the need for population-based efforts to increase fruit and vegetable consumption throughout the world.”
Fruit and veg are packed with fibre, vitamins, antioxidants and minerals.
Eating a wide range of them has been proven to improve gut health and people who eat more fruit and veg are less likely to be overweight or obese – the main risk factor of cardiovascular disease.
According to a study from back in Janurary, 90 per cent of us aren’t getting enough fibre and that’s worrying because it’s so crucial to our everyday health.
It’s the stuff that ensures we don’t go too long without having a poo. It wards off things like heart attacks and stroke. It can improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels – crucial in preventing or managing diabetes.
Oh, and it also protects many of us from developing bowel cancer.
As well as helping us eat enough roughage, fruit and veg contain nutrients like vitamin C.
According to nutritionists Dr Sarah Brewer and Juliette Kellow, citrus fruits are the key to stay young and living long.
They recommend eating at least one orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime a day.
Dr Brewer told The Sun: “Citrus fruits contain antioxidant polyphenols and vitamin C which protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals.
“Vitamin C helps to lower cholesterol levels by promoting the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids. Antioxidants in general also lower cholesterol by protecting circulating LDL (bad cholesterol) particles from oxidation so they return to the liver for recycling rather than contributing to furring up of the arteries.”
The vitamin can help us beat wrinkles, heart disease and there’s some suggestion that it may play a role in the management of cancer.
The Tufts University study’s senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, said that the recent findings showed a need “to expand the focus to increasing availability and consumption of protective foods like fruits, vegetables and legumes – a positive message with tremendous potential for improving global health”.
Health officials recommend we eat 300g of fruit a day – the equivalent of two small apples.
We should be eating 400g of veg a day – the equivalent of three cups of raw carrot.
Researchers estimated that the average national intake of fruit and veg of 113 countries and then compared data with the causes of death in each country and data on the cardiovascular risk associated with poor fruit and veg consumption.
Based on data from 2010, they estimated that lack of fruit resulted in nearly 1.3 million deaths from stroke and 520,000 from coronary heart disease.
A lack of veg resulted in around 200,000 stroke deaths and more than 800,000 deaths from coronary heart disease.
The countries most impacted by low fruit-eating and high stroke deaths were in South Asia, East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, while countries in Central Asia and Oceana had low veg intake and high rates of coronary heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide – and is still the biggest killer in the UK.
Young men were found to be most at risk.
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