Fruits and vegetables have been the recommendations for a healthy diet. They can help ward off heart disease, stroke, control blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent some kinds of cancer, avoid painful intestinal ailments, and guard against vision loss. Latest research illustrates that the best payoff for eating fruits and vegetables is for the heart. The average American gets three servings of fruits and vegetables a day. For a person who needs 2000 calories per day to maintain health and weight, this equals nine servings (4 ½ cups per day).

Cardiovascular Disease

Harvard-based Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study is the longest and largest study that includes 110,000 men and women whose health and dietary habits were watched for 14 years. It has been shown that the lower the chance of developing cardiovascular disease, the higher average daily intake of fruits and vegetables. Those who averaged eight or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day were 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke. For every extra serving of fruits and vegetables that participants added to their diets, their risk of heart disease dropped four percent.

Cholesterol

The primary risk for heart disease and stroke is high blood pressure, which it is very important to control and can be done so by lifestyle changes. Eating fruits and vegetables can lower cholesterol. In the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Family Heart Study, 4466 subjects consumed a little more than three servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Those participants who had more than four servings per day had significantly lower levels of LDL cholesterol than those with lower consumption.

Cancer

Numerous studies have revealed a strong link between eating fruits and vegetables and protection against cancer. The World Health Organization recently completed a review on fruits, vegetables, and cancer. (To view that, go to who.org.)

Gastrointestinal Health

Indigestible fiber is a great component of fruits and vegetables. Fiber passes through the digestive system, soaks up the water, and expands. As a result this calms the irritable bowl and triggers bowel movements.

Vision

Eating fruits and vegetables keeps your eyes in good shape. Vitamin A, which is found in carrots, aids in night vision. Fruits and vegetables help prevent cataracts and macular degeneration.

Recommendations

Everyone can benefit from eating more fruits and vegetables. Remember eating a variety of different fruits and vegetables is very important, too.

Source: Harvard School of Public Health, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fruits.html.