Eating raw vegetables and fruit can help reduce risk of heart disease

Thu, 13 Oct 2011
A new study has found that a diet rich in raw vegetables and fruit can help to reduce the onset of heart disease in people who are genetically susceptible to the risk of heart problems. The research, which was published in the journal Plos Medicine, showed that at least five daily servings of raw vegetables or fruit could counteract damage and weaken the effect caused by a harmful chromosome gene.

The study into high-risk 9p21 gene versions, which are believed to be carried by a fifth of all people with European ancestry, involved examining data from over 27,000 people from around the world, revealed that those who ate a diet of raw vegetables, fruits and berries had the same level of risk of heart attack as people with a low-risk variant of the same gene.

One of the researchers, Sonia Anand of McMaster University in Canada, commented "Our results support the public health recommendation to consume more than five servings of fruits or vegetables as a way to promote good health."

Judy O'Sullivan from the British Heart Foundation, also said "The relationship between the two is often very complicated and we don't yet have all the answers, but the message appears to be very simple – eating lots of fruit and vegetables is great news for our heart health." However, further work needs to be carried out to determine how the diet could have this effect on genes.

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