Hot on the tail of news showing that Americans are living longer but not necessarily better lives, comes a large study from Sweden linking fruit and vegetable intake with overall mortality.
The study, published in the August edition of the Journal of Clinical Nutrition followed over 71,000 Swedish adults for a period of 13 years.
The researchers found that eating less than 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day was linked to higher rates of death and shorter lifespans. This was compared to those who ate 5 or more servings per day.
People in the study who said they never ate fruit lived on average, 3 years less life and had a 53% greater chance of dying during the follow up period than did those who ate 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day.
Of course this study didn’t assign cause and effect to produce intake and life or death…but it is worth thinking about as you ponder your own fruit and vegetable intake patterns!