
 
 
 
 We’ve all been told to eat our vegetables, and even if we don’t like it, we know they’re good for us. But a new study shows just how good for our longevity they may be. 
 
 Seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day can lower your risk of dying by an astonishing 42%, according to a new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. The more fruits and vegetables the participants ate, the less likely they were to die at any age, and the protective benefit increased with consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends anywhere between one to two cups of fruit daily and one to three cups of vegetables daily, depending on age and gender. Their slogan follows, “Fruit and veggies — more matters.” Australia advises eating two portions of fruit and five of vegetables, and in the U.K., the slogan is: “5 a day.” 
 
 
 
 When compared with consuming less than one portion of fruit and vegetables a day, the risk of death by any cause was reduced by 14% by eating one to three portions; 29% for three to five portions; 36% for five to seven portions; and 42% for seven or more. Eating seven or more portions also specifically reduced the risk of dying from cancer by 25%, and heart disease by 31%. 
 
 “The clear message here is that the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die at any age,” lead study author Oyinlola Oyebode, of University College London’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, said in a statement. “Vegetables have a larger effect than fruit, but fruit still makes a real difference. If you’re happy to snack on carrots or other vegetables, then that is a great choice, but if you fancy something sweeter, a banana or any fruit will also do you good.” 
 
 The study is the first to associate eating fruits and vegetables with all-cause, cancer and heart-disease deaths in a nationally representative population, and to quantify the benefits by portions. Researchers looked at results from the Health Survey for England between 2001 and 2013, which detailed the eating habits of 65,226 people. ||||| Five portions of fruit and vegetables a day – a familiar mantra for those concerned about their own and their children's health – may not, after all, be enough, according to a new report by scientists, who suggest we should instead be aiming for seven a day, and mostly vegetables at that. Alarmingly for some who thought they were doing the right thing, tinned and frozen fruit may not be helpful at all. 
 
 The latest wisdom – guaranteed to raise a groan from those already perplexed over stories of suspect sugars and dodgy fats – arises from a study carried out by experts at University College London, who analysed the eating habits of 65,000 people, revealed through eight years of the Health Survey for England, and matched them with causes of death. 
 
 The clear finding was that eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, including salads, was linked to living a longer life generally and in particular, to a lower chance of death from heart disease, stroke and cancer. 
 
 Eating at least seven portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day was linked to a 42% lower risk of death from all causes. It was also associated with a 25% lower risk of cancer and 31% lower risk of heart disease or stroke. Vegetables seemed to be significantly more protection against disease than eating fruit, they say. 
 
 There was a surprise finding – people who ate canned or frozen fruit actually had a higher risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. 
 
 The authors, Dr Oyinlola Oyebode and colleagues from the department of epidemiology and public health at UCL, said they were unsure how to interpret the findings on canned or frozen fruit . It could be that people eating canned fruit may not live in areas where there is fresh fruit in the shops, which could indicate a poorer diet. 
 
 Alternatively, they could be people who are already in ill-health or they could lead hectic lifestyles. There is also another possibility: frozen and tinned fruit were grouped together in the questions, but while frozen fruit is considered to be nutritionally the same as fresh, tinned fruit is stored in syrup containing extra sugar. More work needs to be done to see whether sweetened, tinned fruit is in fact the issue, the researchers say. 
 
 Oyebode and colleagues took into account the socio-economic background, smoking habits and other lifestyle factors that affect people's health. What they have found, they say, is a strong association between high levels of fruit and vegetable consumption and lower premature death rates – not a causal relationship. 
 
 But the strength of the study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, is in the big numbers and the fact that the data comes from the real world – not a collection of individuals who had a particular health condition or occupation, but a random selection. 
 
 The "five a day" advice was launched by the government in 2003, after the World Health Organisation advised in 1990 that our minimum daily intake of fruit and vegetables should be 400g a day. 
 
 France and Germany also recommend five a day, while the US abandoned the numbers in favour of a "fruit and veggies – more matters" campaign in 2007. But Australia advises people to eat substantially more. In 2005, the Australian government launched "Go for 2+5", meaning two 150g portions of fruit and five 75g portions of vegetables. That is 675g, the equivalent in the UK of 8.5 portions. 
 
 Oyebode said she thought the Australian example was probably the one to follow. "I think it makes a lot of sense," she said. "It is aiming for more and the balance is two fruit and five veg. From our study it looks like vegetables are better than fruit. But I don't feel very strongly that the guidelines should be changed because the majority of people know they should eat five a day and only 25% manage that." 
 
 Changes in policy, she said, would be needed to improve the UK score. "Anything that could increase the accessibility and affordability of fruit and vegetables would be very helpful, such as working with corner shops to make sure they stock them," she said. Petrol stations could also offer fruit and vegetables and maybe the Healthy Start scheme – which gives families on less than £16,000 vouchers for fruit and vegetables – could be extended. 
 
 Other experts agreed that the study was sound and representative of the population, but cautioned that in a study of the habits of people in the real world, it is hard to take full account of complications, such as education, smoking habits and people failing to tell the exact truth about their diet. "A key outstanding question is whether this [reduced risk of disease] is entirely attributable to these specific foods, or whether they are acting as a marker of a broader dietary pattern associated with improved health," said Professor Susan Jebb of the Nuffield department of primary care health sciences, University of Oxford.
– Even if you're a proud consumer of five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, you're not getting enough, an extensive British study suggests. And steer clear of the canned stuff. University College London researchers reviewed the diets of 65,000 people; they found that those who ate more fresh fruits and vegetables tended to live longer, and the magic threshold seemed to be seven-plus servings every day. Those who hit that level reduced their risk of death "from all causes" by 42% as compared to those who ate less than one portion daily, the Guardian reports. More specifically, those big on fruits and veggies saw a 31% lower risk of heart disease and a 25% lower risk of cancer. Hitting five is, of course, still beneficial: Eat three to five portions, and overall risk drops 29%, while five to seven means a 36% lower risk, Time reports. In the US, the standard slogan when it comes to fruits and vegetables is "more matters," but the best advice is Australia's, says a researcher; in that country, the advice is "go for 2+5," or two servings of fruits and five of vegetables. "From our study it looks like vegetables are better than fruit," she says. Be warned: Canned and frozen fruit, the study finds, may actually increase heart disease, stroke, and cancer risk, the Guardian notes. Researchers are cautious about that finding, however, suggesting it could be because canned fruit is often smothered in sugary syrup. (So eat more veggies ... but maybe run less.)