The old adage “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away,” is proving to be true to an extent. New medical research reveals that eating plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole grains helps prevent people from developing more than one chronic disease.
The University of Adelaide examined the link between diet and 11 chronic diseases, including anemia, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, hepatitis, coronary heart disease, asthma, stroke, and cancer. Their results found that people who eat a higher amount of fruit are less likely to develop any chronic disease, while a high intake of vegetables prevents people with one chronic disease from developing a second one.
This is the first study that has linked poor nutrition to the development of multiple chronic diseases. Researchers studied more than 1000 Chinese people over a five year period.
Study co-author Dr. Zumin Shi said the participants who did not develop any chronic disease ate on average 57 grams of fruit per day and rice intake was significantly lower in the healthy group. The research also found that healthier participants ate more grains other than wheat and rice – such as oats, corn, sorghum, rye, barley, millet and quinoa.
A higher daily intake of iron, magnesium, phosphorous, vitamin C, potassium and vitamin B1 was also associated with healthier participants.
The study was done in conjunction with universities and health organizations in China and Canada. It is published in the Clinical Nutrition Journal.