A seven-year study on 500,000 Chinese adults have found that eating fresh fruits could lower the risk of heart attack and stroke.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. They tracked the health of these 500,000 Chinese adult citizens for seven years.
Fruits which are a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, antioxidants, and various other potentially active compounds have a lower consumption rate in China.
According to study author, Dr Huaidong Du, University of Oxford, UK: “The association between fruit consumption and cardiovascular risk seems to be stronger in China, where many still eat little fruit, than in high-income countries where daily consumption of fruit is more common.”
The study co-author Professor Liming Li, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said “A recent Global Burden of Disease report put low fruit consumption as one of the leading causes of premature death in China. However, this was based on little evidence from China itself.”
Also, senior author, Professor Zhengming Chen, University of Oxford, UK, said “It’s difficult to know whether the lower risk in people who eat more fresh fruit is because of a real protective effect. If it is, then widespread consumption of fresh fruit in China could prevent about half a million cardiovascular deaths a year, including 200,000 before age 70, and even larger numbers of non-fatal strokes and heart attacks.”
Besides reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke, the study also found that regular fruit consumption has been associated with many other factors, such as education, lower blood pressure, lower blood glucose, and not smoking.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
When did you last eat fresh fruit?
S.O.Z