The familiar "5 servings of fruits and veggies a day" recommendation may soon receive a revamp, based on new research from the World Health Organization. The UK's National Health Service is now recommending 7 servings of fruits and veggies per day, noting that the increase can dramatically decrease a persons risk of disease and health related death, the Huffington Post reports. According to information from the NHS, increasing your intake of fruits and veggies lowers your risk of serious heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The new research shows that eating 7 servings of fruits and veggies per day can reduce the risk of death from cancer by up to 25%, and reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 31%. The conclusions are based on data from a study conducted by the University College of London (UCL), which examined the dietary habits of 65,000 adults in England between the years 2001-2013. According to the study, there is a direct correlation between an increase in fruit and vegetable intake, and a decrease in risk of death by serious disease. Even eating just one serving of fresh fruit or veggies per day was shown to have a very positive effect on health, reducing a person's risk of death from disease by 14% versus eating no fruits or veggies.
Surprisingly, the study seems to show that canned and frozen fruit can increase the risk of death from diseases, rather than decrease, and no noticeable benefits were gained by drinking fruit juice. As the
Huffington Post notes, this could possibly be attributed to the larger amounts of sugar and preservatives present in canned produce. There are some critics who claim the survey ignores variables that could alter the results, such as the fact that those who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables tend to have healthier diets in general.
How many servings do you eat per day, and is 7 every 24 hours a feasible goal? Let us know what you think via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+.
Source: Huffington Post, Image Credit (Unsplash)
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Previously: World Health Organization to Update Sugar Intake Recommendations
The World Health Organization is re-vamping their guideline on sugar consumption to better reflect resent research. The
LA Times reports that the WHO is amending it's previous recommendation, that adults with an average body mass index consume no more than 10% of their daily calories as sugar. The new recommendations reduce that amount to 5%, which equals about 25 grams of sugar per day. That amount, as
the report points out, is about equivalent to one container of Yoplait strawberry yogurt. Many sodas and juices contain more grams of sugar in one bottle than the WHO recommends an adult consume in an
entire day.
The new recommendations may seem paltry, but they are rather astute when seen in light of recent health statistics regarding American adults. Last month, a study published in JAMA international Medicine showed that
71.4% of Americans get more than 10% of their calories from sugar. Another study done by the Harvard School of Public Health concluded that a typical American eats and drinks a whopping
22 teaspoons, or approximately 110 grams of unnecessary sugar each day, 78% more sugar than would be recommended by the WHO. The problem, especially in America, is that many popular drinks and packaged foods contain high levels of added sugar. This means that in added sugars are compromising a large part of Americans' diets.
Health officials are worried that these extra sugar calories are replacing what could otherwise be healthy parts of Americans' daily food consumption. Filling up on sweet yogurts and sports drinks means that individuals are consuming unhealthy calories rather than nutritious foods, or may be adding additional calories and consuming too many per day.
While added sugars (non-naturally occurring) are a major concern, even too much natural sugar can be a bad thing, and it is easy to go overboard. Fruit, for instance, can contain quite a lot of sugar. One cup of grapes contains approximately
23 grams of sugar, while others, such as blackberries, are a bit better at only
7 grams per cup. The flip side, is that fruit does contain healthy fibers, antioxidants and vitamins that are not present in many sugary drinks and processed snacks.
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LA Times,
Image Credit (Flickr)
