Eating one piece of fruit a day ‘reduces heart disease risk by up to 40%’

Eating fruit every day can reduce the risk of heart and artery disease by up to 40 per cent, a study has found. Compared with avoiding fruit altogether, daily consumption also cuts the overall risk of death by nearly a third in at-risk individuals, said researchers. While previous studies have shown the benefits of fruit and vegetables to heart health, few have focused on fruit alone. The new research led by scientists at Oxford University involved almost half-a-million people from China taking part in a large health and lifestyle investigation.

Even eating just one more portion a day helped lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, which should give us all that extra incentive.

Tracy Parker, heart health dietician at the British Heart Foundation

Fruit consumption frequency was recorded at the start of the seven-year follow-up period. The number of occasions people ate fruit ranged between never, one to three days per week, four to six days per week, and daily. The findings showed that compared with consuming none, eating fruit every day cut the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by 25 to 40 per cent. A dose response was also seen. The more fruit that was consumed, the more the risk of CVD fell.

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