General Medical Advices

If you increase consumption of fruits and vegetables could prevent 1.7 million deaths per year worldwide, according to World Health Organization. These foods help prevent the development of some diseases such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and heart problems. And you, how many servings you eat each day?

A healthy and varied diet that abound in the fruits and vegetables instead of fats and refined sugars, present in many of the snacks and sweets, for example, you helps maintain a healthier life longer, and the benefits are numerous. So many, that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that if its use could be saved to grow 1.7 million lives worldwide!

According to a report of that entity, in conjunction with the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization), the amount of daily consumption of fruits and vegetables (excluding potatoes, cassava and other tubers like containing many carbohydrates, or sugars) should be 400 grams (0.8 lb) on average. However, currently, the consumption of fruits and vegetables varies greatly according to each country. It is estimated that varies from 100 (0.2 lb) to 400 grams (0.8 lb) per day, according to the place.

This is especially important if you consider that eating few fruits and vegetables has become one of the major risk factors for mortality worldwide, is estimated to cause, worldwide, about 19% of cancers gastrointestinal (digestive tract), 31% of ischemic heart disease (heart problems) and 11% of strokes (from stroke).

Conversely, if you incorporate more vegetables at meals, would prevent chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart problems. Even more, if this is complemented by a regular exercise routine. In addition, consumption of fruits and vegetables also help eliminate the lack of certain nutrients that currently exists in the diet of many people, especially in less developed countries.

In this regard, an international review coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer found that consumption of fruits and vegetables may reduce the chances of developing cancer between 5 and 12 percent. That figure was even higher when it comes to gastrointestinal cancer: to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of developing it would be a 20 to 30 percent lower.

The good news is that all this can be avoided if you change these habits, not just one person but of the whole society. Can you imagine the children’s birthdays without sodas and fruit salad instead of cupcakes? Some schools have already begun to promote the sale of healthier foods to students instead of high calorie snacks that are usually offered in the newsstands. However, this still seems something impossible to achieve in most cases.

You can add your two cents! Remember (and tell your family and friends) that an unhealthy diet coupled with physical inactivity are two major risk factors that currently exist worldwide. Both, together with the use of snuff and alcohol abuse contribute to the occurrence of more than 36 million deaths each year, of which 9 million are people who have not attained 60 years of age. And in this case there is no distinction of sex, that can be affected both men and women.

From now on, how many fruits and vegetables include in your diet?

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