Even though the U.S. has dropped to number two in ranks of the obesity epidemic, outsized by Mexico according to a recent U.N. report, weight gain is not the only issue people will have to deal with in the battle against the bulge, as unhealthy eating has been linked to an early death.
According to Reuters Health, a study by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden found that eating less than five servings of fruits and vegetables a day has been linked to a higher chance of dying early. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, says that previous studies have shown inconclusive research on the importance of eating fruits and veggies, and their research indicates that those who never eat them die an average of three years sooner than those who do.
Alicja Wolk, who worked on the research, explained to Reuters Health that her team did not find any improvement in survival rates among those who ate more than the reccommended five servings per day compared to those who met the base guideline. However, many public health organizations worldwide support the five-a-day serving for optimal health.
Data was collected from more than 71,000 Swedes aged 45 to 83 who were studied over the course of 13 years. Participants began reporting in 1997-8 how often they ate fruits - including oranges, apples, bananas and berries - and how often they ate veggies, like carrots, lettuce, beets, cabbage tomato and pea soup.
"When I speak to lay people I actually say, 'Eat vegetables more than fruit, but eat both,'" Wolk told Reuters Health.
Nearly 11,500 of those enrolled in the study died by December 2010, and participants who ate at least one serving of fruit a day lived 19 months longer on average than those who never ate fruit. As for those who ate at least three servings of vegetables per day, they lived 32 months longer than those who did not.
People who ate fewer fruits and veggies were more likely to smoke, tended to be less-educated than their particpant peers and ate more red meat, high-fat dairy, sweets and snacks. Women in the study ate more fruits and vegetables than men, but when researchers accounted for gender, smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption and body weight, their results did not change.
The study authors say that very few large studies have looked in detail into the effects of eating fruit and vegetables daily on a person's mortality.
As for obesity, eating less high-fat food, sugar and red meat and more fruits and vegetables is often linked to weight loss, an important issue for the U.S. in which 32 percent of its population is obese.
