Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of major chronic disease.

Adequate intake of fruits and vegetables may cut down the risk of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular ailments.

This study investigated the effect of the consumption of fruits and vegetables on chronic disease risk. Researchers tracked the dietary records of 109,636 subjects with no previous history of chronic disease recruited from the Nurse’s Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The chronic disease hazard risk of each participant in this study was also ascertained.

Researchers observed that increased consumption of diets characterized by high intake of fruits and vegetables lowered the odds of developing chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand, regular ingestion of fruits and vegetables was found to have little or no effect on cancer development risk. The findings of this study suggest that generous intake of fruits and vegetables may help protect individuals from chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases.