Eat Fruits Daily to Keep Heart Problems at Bay: Study

Eating fruits everyday reduces the risk of developing heart problems by 40 percent, according to a study.

Treating oneself daily with generous servings of fruits and vegetables benefits overall health and well-being by deferring age induced ailments and disorders. But, researches in the past did not examine the effects of eating fruits alone. Recently, scientists at the Oxford University looked at eating and lifestyle habits of over half a million Chinese participants for almost seven years.  Nearly 18 percent of subjects consumed fruits daily while, 6.3 percent of the volunteers never ate fruits even once in a week.

The researchers also recorded blood pressure readings of the participants after the follow-up. It was observed daily fruit intake lowered risk of cardiovascular diseases by 25 to 40 percent. The blood pressure readings of subjects who unfailingly ate fruits daily was 4.1 millilitres of mercury less than those who never ate.

In subsequent trials, the authors noted the association between fruit consumption and heart diseases related deaths in 61,000 patients.  The risk rate diminished by 32 percent for patients with hypertension and clogged arteries after following the fruit diet.

"Our data clearly shows that eating fresh fruit can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, including ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke . And not only that, the more fruit you eat the more your CVD risk goes down," said Huaidong Du, study author and researcher from Oxford University, reports the Daily Mail.

"It does suggest that eating more fruit is beneficial compared to less or no fruit," she adds.

"Many western populations have experienced a rapid decrease in CVD mortality during the past several decades, especially stroke mortality since the early 1950s, for reasons that are not yet fully explained. Improved access to fresh fruit may well have contributed importantly to that decline," said Zhengmeng Chen, co-researcher and professor at the Oxford University, reports the Daily Mail.

The research was presented at the annual meet of the European Society of Cardiology in Barcelona, Spain.