Researchers at University College London say that eating seven portions of fruit and vegetables provides significantly better protection against the risk of death than the current five-a-day guide.
When the UCL researchers looked at the data from 65,226 men and women, they found that the the more fruit and vegetables people ate, the less likely they were to die – at any age. Seven-a-day cut death risk by 42%, five-a-day by 29%, they said
.Using data from the National Health Survey, the researchers found that the risk of death decreased as fruit and veg consumption increased. The data showed that the risk of death by any cause was reduced by:
• 14% by eating one to three portions of fruit or veg per day
• 29% for three to five
• 36% for five to seven
• 42% for seven or more
Fresh vegetables were shown to have the strongest protective effect, followed by salad and then fruit. Fruit juice appeared to produce no benefit, while canned fruit was associated with an increased risk of death.
The researchers say they had aimed to take account of other lifestyle factors – such as not smoking or nor drinking excessively – which might have accounted for drop in mortality.
But other experts have questioned the value of the findings. Prof Tom Sanders, at the School of Medicine, King’s College London, told the BBC that it was well established that people who ate lots of fruit and vegetables were generally better educated and better off, which would account for the drop in risk in itself.
A Government spokesman meanwhile said that five-a-day was sufficient, adding that achieving seven-a-day would be “a struggle”.
