A healthy, well-balanced diet indisputably contains lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. A judicious mix of both the sects of foods is essential to obtain the vital nutrients required by the body for normal functioning. If this is not enough, here's another reason to stock up fruits and veggies in the kitchen for everyday consumption. A new study states that lack of fruit and vegetable in diet may cause millions of death from heart disease and strokes each year. In the year 2010 alone, low fruit consumption resulted in around 1.8 million cardiovascular related deaths, and low vegetable consumption led to as many as one million deaths! The shocking findings were revealed at the recent meeting 'Nutrition 2019' in the Baltimore Convention Center.
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Lack of fruit and vegetable in a diet may cause millions of death from heart disease and strokes
Victoria Miller, lead author of the study pointed, "Fruits and vegetables are a modifiable component of the diet that can impact preventable deaths globally. Our findings indicate the need for population-based efforts to increase fruit and vegetable consumption throughout the world."
For the study, the researchers analysed average national intakes of fruit and vegetables in 113 countries and compared the results with data on deaths in each country, particularly caused by heart problems. They found that countries in South Asia, East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which had low fruit intake, showed higher numbers of deaths due to heart stroke. Countries in Central Asia and Oceania showed similar results and the reason was determined to be low vegetable consumption.
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Low intake of fruits and vegetables led to more cardiovascular problems in younger adults and men
Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the study added, "Global nutrition priorities have traditionally focused on providing sufficient calories, vitamin supplementation and reducing additives like salt and sugar. These findings indicate 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."
The study also revealed that low consumption of fruits and vegetables led to more cardiovascular problems in younger adults and affected more men than women as women are more particular about their diet and heart health.