Millions of heart disease, stroke deaths linked to not eating enough fruits, vegetables

Inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption may account for millions of deaths from heart disease and strokes each year across the globe, a study has found.

The study estimated that roughly one in seven cardiovascular deaths could be attributed to not eating enough fruit and one in 12 cardiovascular deaths could be attributed to not eating enough vegetables.
Low fruit intake resulted in nearly 1.8 million cardiovascular deaths in 2010, while low vegetable intake resulted in one million deaths, researchers said.

Overall, the toll of suboptimal fruit intake was almost double that of vegetables. The impacts were most acute in countries with the lowest average intakes of fruits and vegetables.
"Fruits and vegetables are a modifiable component of diet that can impact preventable deaths globally," said Victoria Miller, a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University in the US. Readmore