A new study from University College London (UCL) says that eating seven fruits or vegetables each day brings down a person's risk of death by 42 percent.
The study was published Monday in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, according to CNN.
Researchers analyzed data from over 65,000 adults over 35-years-old who participated in the Health Survey for England study between 2001 and 2008. Participants were asked about their daily fruit and vegetable consumption during a 24-hour time period in the study. The U.K.'s Department of Health defined portion sizes to be almost 80 grams (almost 3 ounces).
The researchers discovered that having a diet with a lot of fruit and vegetables can help protect against heart disease, cancer and other causes of death, CNN reported. While eating seven servings each day had the greatest effect, every increase in servings helped lower death risk.
Eating at least seven portions daily brought down the risk of cancer by 25 percent and the risk of heart disease by 31 percent, according to American News Report.
The risk of death by any cause was found to decrease by 14 percent if a person eats one to three portions, 29 percent for three to five portions, and 42 percent for at least seven portions.
The researchers also found that fresh vegetables had a greater effect than fruit, American News Report said. A daily portion of vegetables reduced overall death risk by 16 percent. Salad leads to a 13 percent reduction for each portion, while fresh fruit caused a decline by 4 percent.
"We all know eating fruit and vegetables is healthy, but the size of the effect is staggering," said Dr. Oyinlola Oyebode of UCL's Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, lead author of the study. "The clear message here is that the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die at any age. 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."
