"We hope that studies like this can be an important reminder of the
role we as consumers have on heart disease and stroke,” Dr. Jeffrey
S. Berger from New York University School of Medicine told Reuters
Health. “We often remember to take our medication, yet studies like
this should remind us to eat our fruits and veggies every day.
Moreover, we should continue reminding our young generation of this
importance now before disease develops.”
Past research has linked fruit and vegetable consumption to a lower
risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, but there has been little
research into the effects of fruits and vegetables on arteries in
the legs and arms, Berger’s team writes in Arteriosclerosis,
Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.
Peripheral artery disease, or PAD, usually arises as a narrowing of
arteries to the legs that causes cramping, pain or tiredness in the
muscles while walking or climbing stairs. It affects at least 8 to
12 million Americans.
Risk for PAD increases with age, and with a history of smoking,
diabetes or high blood pressure.
To investigate whether fruit and vegetable consumption influences
risk for PAD, Berger’s team analyzed dietary data on 3,696,778 men
and women with an average age of about 65, around 234,000 of whom
had PAD.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Health and Human Services
Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend at least two servings of
fruit and at least three servings of vegetables each day, but only
29 percent of participants in the study said they ate even three
servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Nearly half said they consumed at least three servings of fruit and
vegetables on fewer than half the days of the week.
Older white women were most likely to consume fruits and vegetables
regularly, and younger black men were least likely to eat at least
three servings daily.
Fruit and vegetable consumption also varied by region, with those
living in the Pacific states reporting the most regular consumption
and those living in the South Central states reporting the least
regular consumption.
After adjusting for age, sex, race and other risk factors, the more
fruits and vegetables the participants ate, the lower their
likelihood of having PAD.
When researchers divided participants according to their smoking
status, they found the relationship between fruit and vegetable
intake and PAD was strongest among current smokers, less significant
among former smokers and not significant among people who never
smoked.
[to top of second column] |
“Unfortunately, fruit and vegetable intake is quite low across the
entire United States,” Berger said by email.
“Something as simple as eating fruits and vegetables could have a
major impact on the prevalence of a life-altering disease, such as
peripheral artery disease,” he said.
“Watch what you eat,” Berger advised. “And pay careful attention to
eat fruits and vegetables every single day.”
“Increasing fruit and vegetable intake is important and can have far
reaching health benefits,” said Dr. Michelle L. Redmond from
University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, who wasn’t involved
in the study.
To get people to up their intake of greens, she said by email,
“First, one must take into consideration factors that influence
behaviors such as access and affordability of fresh fruits and
vegetables (how do you change or lessen certain barriers to
fruit/vegetable intake). Then design interventions or campaigns that
are tailored to specific audiences to motivate and increase
fruit/vegetable consumption. Finally, there is also a need to
increase nutrition literacy.”
Getting people to eat more fruits and vegetables is a challenge in
other countries, too, noted Dr. Miguel A. Martinez-Gonzalez from
University of Navarra Medical School in Spain, who wasn’t involved
in the study. He acknowledged the special importance of fruit and
vegetable consumption for smokers but, he told Reuters Health, "This
advice should be given to everybody."
Source: http://bit.ly/2q1l9ec Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and
Vascular Biology, online 18 May 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |