Five daily portions of fruit, vegetables lower death risk

Add a substantial amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet - at least five portions - and live your life disease free.

According to a new study, higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of mortality from all causes, particularly from cardiovascular diseases.

"The results support current recommendations to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables to promote health and longevity," researchers added.

To get this figure, the team from China and the US analysed results of 16 studies involving 833,234 participants and 56,423 deaths.

Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables was significantly associated with a lower risk of death from all causes.

"Average risk of death from all causes was reduced by five percent for each additional daily serving of fruit and vegetables, while risk of cardiovascular death was reduced by four percent for each additional daily serving of fruit and vegetables," the study noted.

These results conflict with a recent study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggesting that seven or more daily portions of fruits and vegetables were linked to lowest risk of death.

New research identified a threshold around five servings per day, after which the risk of death did not reduce further.