Fruit Consumption And Lowering The Risk Of Heart Disease

♦ Reduction in heart attacks and stroke linked to eating fresh fruit

Cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of premature death and disability being responsible for over 2 million deaths in Europe alone. It was established back in 2010 that globally, one of the risk factors was the low level of fruit consumed (Lim et al., 2012). It builds on 30 years of evidence that made the association between high levels of raw fruit consumption and a lowering of mortality generally.

A comprehensive study assessing the dietary habits of half a million Chinese has revealed that eating fresh fruit helps lower the risk of heart attacks and stroke generally. China was chosen for the study simply because unlike the United Kingdom or the USA, fresh or raw fruit consumption is generally much lower. The study also wanted to address the issue that risk of disease and death was prevalent in those who ate fewer than two servings of fruit per day.

Only one study had ever looked at this association in China before which studied 130,000 adults and recorded just 1,600 deaths in the follow-up. The risk of cardiovascular death in the highest quintile of fruit consumption was about 30% lower than among those in the lowest quintile. However, that study could not find an overall association with the incidence of major coronary heart disease events.

The study was a collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the University of Oxford which looked at 513,000 people, aged 30 to 79 years from 10 different regions and various walks of life in China. The researchers recorded and assessed the health of each individual over seven years and across 10 study regions. They checked death and electronic hospital records to build up a picture of levels and types of illness over those 7 years.

All subjects did not have any history of cardiovascular disease or received anti-hypertensive treatments before the study started.

Amongst the vast amount of data collected, consuming 100 g portions of fruit per day was associated with about a one-third reduction in death from cardiovascular disease. This association was the same irrespective of the sex of the subject, even dietary and non-dietary factors and where they came from. The study revealed just 18% of people in the study consumed fresh fruit daily. All those subjects who rarely ate fresh fruit had slightly higher systolic blood pressures by 4.0 mm Hg and blood glucose levels which were marginally higher by 0.5 mmol/l or 9.0 mg per decilitre. In all cases there was a very strong relationship between the incidence of each outcome and the amount of fresh fruit consumed.

The findings were roughly the same irrespective of factors considered in the study such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels, education, intellect and levels of smoking. The lead author Dr Huaidong Du, University of Oxford, UK, stated:-

“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.”

The senior author, Professor Zhengming Chen, University of Oxford, UK, is quoted:-

“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 non-fatal strokes and heart attacks.”

The University of Oxford has produced additional material to highlight the study.

Huaidong D., Linimg, L., Bennett, D., et al., (2016) Fresh Fruit Consumption and Major Cardiovascular Disease in China. N. Engl. J. Med.  374 pp. 1332-1343 April 7, 2016 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1501451

Lim, S.S., Vos, T., Flaxman, A.D., et al., (2012) A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. Dec 15; 380(9859) pp. 2224-60. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61766-8.