- Stop two of the world’s greatest killers in their tracks in just a few bites
- No need for comparisons any longer… find out why!
- Protect yourself with a portion so small it hardly qualifies as a snack
Dear Reader,
Remember the old saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”?
As it turns out, new science backs it up. (Moms are cheering everywhere!)
And to make the news even sweeter — apples, or any type of fruit for that matter, aren’t just good for overall health. As it seems, new scientific research shows fruit has the amazing power to lower your risk of heart disease and stroke — the top two killers in the world.1
But the benefits don’t stop there. A new study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, reports that eating a small amount of fruit daily not only decreases your risk of stroke to a fraction, but is also linked to lower glucose levels and lower blood pressure.2
And the best part of this news? It’s truly a small portion.
I will reveal the magic amount in a bit, but first let’s find out more from the researchers.
Apples and Oranges
University of Oxford and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences researchers followed the dietary habits of 500,000 adults living in both rural and urban China for seven years.
The study data were collected mostly from electronic medical records and death records. Participants in the study had no history of heart disease or high blood pressure treatment when the study began.
At its conclusion, the lengthy and massive study revealed that eating fruit (mostly apples and oranges — no need to not compare them any longer!) is strongly linked to factors like not smoking, education, and, as I previously mentioned, lower blood glucose levels.
However, even after adjusting for these factors, the scientists revealed that fruit consumption significantly lowers your risk of heart disease by one-third!
Senior author Zhengming Chen from the University of Oxford remarked about the results, “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 nonfatal strokes and heart attacks.”3
The Magic Number
So exactly how much fruit were the participants eating?
One hundred grams, or around 3.5 ounces — this translates into a small orange (or three mandarin oranges), or just a bit more than half an apple — an amount that hardly qualifies as a snack in the U.S.
Left: Five apple slices equal about 100g.
Right: Three mandarin oranges are about 100g.
While the results are very positive for fruit eaters, it’s important to eat fruit when it’s raw and fresh.
Dr. Huaidong Du, study author, highlights the significance of raw fruit in relation to the study results:
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. Fruit in China is almost exclusively consumed raw, whereas much of the fruit in high-income countries is processed, and many previous studies combined fresh and processed fruit.
So it looks like the old saying is mostly true, expect you don’t even have to eat a whole apple to reap the benefits!
As always, organics are best. If they aren’t available, be sure to wash your produce thoroughly before consumption.
Live well,
Natalie Moore
Managing editor, Living Well Daily
Ed. Note: Please send your feedback: nmoore@lfb.org – and click here to like us on Facebook.
Sources
[1] The top 10 causes of death
[2] New England Journal of Medicine
[3] Fresh fruit associated with lower risk of heart attack and stroke
