High Fruit and Vegetable Consumption May Lengthen Life

In large study, people who ate the most fruits and vegetables died later.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013, 12:00 am

People who eat more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of death, especially from cardiovascular disease, within a given time period, according to data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Researchers collected information on diet from 451,151 people living in 10 European countries and followed the group for an average of 13 years to track how many died during that time. Among people in the quartile with the highest combined intake of fruits and vegetables, the risk of death from any cause was 10% lower compared to the rest of the people studied. The risk of cardiovascular disease-related death was 15% lower in the group who ate the most fruits and vegetables than among people in the quartile with the lowest consumption.


Among people with the highest consumption, death from all causes was postponed by 1.12 years, and by 1.37 years for cardiovascular disease-related death. If all the participants had shifted their combined fruit and vegetable consumption up one quartile, 2.95% of all-cause deaths and 4.24% of cardiovascular disease-related deaths could have been prevented.

The link between higher fruit and vegetable consumption and lower risk of death was stronger for raw than for cooked vegetables.