Draft Australian Dietary Guidelines (PDF, 3MB) - Eat For Health

Appendix 5. Studies examining thehealth effects of intake of fruit andvegetables togetherThe literature includes studies which have investigated the effect of consumption of fruit andvegetables together. This evidence clearly confirms the positive health effects of consumingvegetables and fruits, particularly in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, but also in reducingrisk of obesity and some cancers. It is compiled as an Appendix to aid the conciseness of Chapter2.A5.1 Cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetesand excess weightThere is evidence regarding a probable association between the consumption of each additionaldaily serve of fruit and vegetables and reduced risk of coronary heart disease (Grade B, Section 3.1in the Evidence Report [14]) [145-147, 150, 969].Similarly, recent evidence supports a probable association between consumption of each additionaldaily serve of fruit and vegetables and a reduced risk of stroke (Grade B, Section 3.2 in theEvidence Report [14]) [145, 146]. Consuming more than five serves of fruit and vegetables a daywas found to reduce the risk of stroke by 26% (fruit serve was 80g and vegetables 77g) [146], andconsuming each additional serve of fruit and vegetables (of average serve size 106g) reduced therisk of stroke by 5% [145]. These results are consistent with those presented in the literaturereviews to inform the recent review of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 which found that‘consistent evidence suggests at least a moderate inverse relationship between vegetable and fruitconsumption with myocardial infarction and stroke, with significantly larger, positive effects notedabove five servings of vegetables and fruits per day’ [143].In the literature reviews to inform the revision of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, theevidence for an association between increased fruit and vegetable intake and reduced risk ofexcess body weight was found to be modest, with a trend towards decreased weight gain over fiveor more years in middle adulthood associated with increased fruit and vegetable intake. Howeverno conclusions could be drawn from the evidence of efficacy of increased fruit and vegetableconsumption in weight loss diets [143]. However, in children and adolescents, the limited body ofevidence from longitudinal studies suggested that greater intakes of fruits and/or vegetables mayprotect against increased adiposity [143].DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines- December 2011 173