Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition

You’ve likely heard a lot about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables ever since you were a child. Children who develop a taste for both take on a healthy habit that can last a long lifetime.

While research in Europe and America has produced mountains of evidence to support fruit and vegetable intake for lower risk of all-cause mortality, this significant benefit has been understudied in Asia, where food environments have undergone great changes for more than a decade. This lack of research in that populous part of the world is changing. And the results are very interesting.

All-Cause Mortality Decrease Associated with Fruit and Vegetable Intake

(The Journal of Nutrition: June 2022)

Over 90,000 women and men aged 40 to 69 participated in a Japan Public Health Center (JPHC)-based prospective study that assessed their intake of fruits and vegetables. Follow-up took place over a period of more than 20 years, during which the documenting of all-cause deaths numbered over 23,687.

Adjustments were made for a number of factors including age and gender before determining that there was a significant association to lower all-cause mortality with fruit and vegetable intake. Furthermore, fruit intake was significantly associated lower cardiovascular mortality.

By noting this decrease in all-cause mortality from a higher intake of fruits and vegetables among the study’s participants, dietary recommendations may be put into place that would enhance life expectancy in Asia.

Lipid Peroxidation Prevention in Adolescents from Increased Vegetable Intake

(International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health:August 2022)

This study focused on a group of young people who are likely to consume ultra-processed foods over fruit and vegetables. The over 350 participants were Japanese girls in junior high and high school. Far less than a third of these adolescents consumed the daily recommended 350 grams or more of vegetables and 200 grams or more of fruit. Actual intakes of most of the young women were far less. Only 5.8 percent were even aware of recommended intakes for vegetables and only 1.9 percent for fruit.

Given the antioxidant activity of vegetable nutrients and phytonutrients to disable free radicals from causing oxidative stress, the girls who consumed higher intakes of vegetables showed an oxidative biomarker decrease, an indicator of diminished oxidative cellular damage to lipids and DNA in the body. The results “also imply the significance that promoting healthy lifestyles should start at early stage of life for the prevention of atherosclerosis.”

Antidepressive Effects of Flavonoid-Rich Fruit Intake

(Translational Psychiatry: September 2022)

A variety of fruits contain polyphenolic compounds called flavonoids, which the JPHC Saku Mental Health study showed evidence of having a preventive effect against depression. The activity that fruit flavonoids produce include an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels along with the suppression of neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. Fruit-specific examples include eating apples, citruses and pears was associated with a lower risk of depression, analyzed from data accumulated from 1,204 participants in the study.

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These three studies are just a sampling of the research being conducted in Japan. Similar studies are happening in other Asian countries, including Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Such findings reflect a worldwide acknowledgement that whole, plant-based foods are vital for the health of people of all ages all around the world.

AIM-Enhanced Nutrition

The first avenue in AIM’s Healthy Cell Concept has always been wholesome food that takes you down the road to good health. Supplementing with the AIM products enhances this dietary intake with nutritionally dense whole-food powders and dietary supplements. You can access the Healthy Cell Concept on the AIM website by logging in and going to the Download Center.