For quite some time, we've been exhorting our patients to eat more fruits & veggies, at least 5 servings a day (WHO 2003). We teach our kids to eat the colors of the rainbow every day. Recently, fruit & veggie consumption has been linked to lower risk of ischemic stroke, osteoarthritis, and even osteoporotic fractures. Plus, I have yet to see a single study extolling the virtues of processed, calorie dense foods.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that another analysis of EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer & Nutrition) was published yesterday, this time of 313,074 previously healthy participants from 8 different European countries followed for 8.4 years, demonstrating a 22% lower relative risk of fatal heart disease in those 18% of the population able to consume 8 servings daily of fruits & veggies compared to those who ate 3 or less. Moreover, each additional serving of fruits & veggies over 3 a day lowered the risk of cardiovascular mortality by 4%. But it's not until one consumes the magical 5 servings daily that the results become statistically significant (in other words, 4 servings don't cut it), and primarily on the strength of the fruit consumption data.
My first reaction was the following: are you kidding me? 8 servings a day? I can barely squeeze in 5 on a good day! Clearly, I'm not a vegan. And it would appear that 4 out of 5 European participants agree w/me. On the other hand, a strong point about this particular observation study is the diversity of the population - it wasn't isolated to just one race or ethnic group but rather spread out across Western Europe (although some might argue that this is still rather homogenous since, by definition, Africans, Asians, and Hispanics comprise a minority within the region).
Still, if this is all we have to do to prevent strokes, arthritis, osteoporosis, and now heart disease, this is an ounce of cure that I think is worthy of a pound of cure.
No comments:
Post a Comment