Consuming more fruits and vegetables could save millions of years lost by those who would otherwise have been disabled or died prematurely from heart disease, according to a recent study presented at the American Heart Association's (AHA) Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2017 Scientific Sessions.
According to an AHA press release, researchers used consumer expenditure surveys and nutritional surveys, as well as data from previous studies on the impact of low fruit and vegetable intake, to learn about the risk of heart disease for 195 countries and calculate the number of years lost to heart disease-related illness or death.
Researchers found that in 2015, years lost to heart heart disease related issues, known as disability-adjusted life years, were 57.3 million for low fruit intake and 44.6 million for low vegetable consumption.
Researchers also reported that the onset of heart disease, in relation to limited vegetable intake, was lowest in North Korea at 5.9 percent and highest in Mongolia at 19.4 percent. The onset of heart disease attributed to limited fruit intake was the highest in highest in Bangladesh at 23.2 percent and the lowest at 5.1 percent in Rwanda.
