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Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases

BACKGROUND: Vegetables and fruit provide a significant part of human nutrition, as they are important sources of nutrients, dietary fibre, and phytochemicals. However, it is uncertain whether the risk of certain chronic diseases can be reduced by increased consumption of vegetables or fruit by the g...

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Autores principales: Boeing, Heiner, Bechthold, Angela, Bub, Achim, Ellinger, Sabine, Haller, Dirk, Kroke, Anja, Leschik-Bonnet, Eva, Müller, Manfred J., Oberritter, Helmut, Schulze, Matthias, Stehle, Peter, Watzl, Bernhard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer-Verlag 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3419346/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22684631
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00394-012-0380-y
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author Boeing, Heiner
Bechthold, Angela
Bub, Achim
Ellinger, Sabine
Haller, Dirk
Kroke, Anja
Leschik-Bonnet, Eva
Müller, Manfred J.
Oberritter, Helmut
Schulze, Matthias
Stehle, Peter
Watzl, Bernhard
author_facet Boeing, Heiner
Bechthold, Angela
Bub, Achim
Ellinger, Sabine
Haller, Dirk
Kroke, Anja
Leschik-Bonnet, Eva
Müller, Manfred J.
Oberritter, Helmut
Schulze, Matthias
Stehle, Peter
Watzl, Bernhard
author_sort Boeing, Heiner
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Vegetables and fruit provide a significant part of human nutrition, as they are important sources of nutrients, dietary fibre, and phytochemicals. However, it is uncertain whether the risk of certain chronic diseases can be reduced by increased consumption of vegetables or fruit by the general public, and what strength of evidence has to be allocated to such an association. METHODS: Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the studies available in the literature and the respective study results has been performed and evaluated regarding obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, cancer, chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, osteoporosis, eye diseases, and dementia. For judgement, the strength of evidence for a risk association, the level of evidence, and the number of studies were considered, the quality of the studies and their estimated relevance based on study design and size. RESULTS: For hypertension, CHD, and stroke, there is convincing evidence that increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit reduces the risk of disease. There is probable evidence that the risk of cancer in general is inversely associated with the consumption of vegetables and fruit. In addition, there is possible evidence that an increased consumption of vegetables and fruit may prevent body weight gain. As overweight is the most important risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus, an increased consumption of vegetables and fruit therefore might indirectly reduces the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Independent of overweight, there is probable evidence that there is no influence of increased consumption on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. There is possible evidence that increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit lowers the risk of certain eye diseases, dementia and the risk of osteoporosis. Likewise, current data on asthma, COPD, and RA indicate that an increase in vegetable and fruit consumption may contribute to the prevention of these diseases. For IBD, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, there was insufficient evidence regarding an association with the consumption of vegetables and fruit. CONCLUSIONS: This critical review on the associations between the intake of vegetables and fruit and the risk of several chronic diseases shows that a high daily intake of these foods promotes health. Therefore, from a scientific point of view, national campaigns to increase vegetable and fruit consumption are justified. The promotion of vegetable and fruit consumption by nutrition and health policies is a preferable strategy to decrease the burden of several chronic diseases in Western societies.
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spelling pubmed-34193462012-08-23 Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases Boeing, Heiner Bechthold, Angela Bub, Achim Ellinger, Sabine Haller, Dirk Kroke, Anja Leschik-Bonnet, Eva Müller, Manfred J. Oberritter, Helmut Schulze, Matthias Stehle, Peter Watzl, Bernhard Eur J Nutr Review BACKGROUND: Vegetables and fruit provide a significant part of human nutrition, as they are important sources of nutrients, dietary fibre, and phytochemicals. However, it is uncertain whether the risk of certain chronic diseases can be reduced by increased consumption of vegetables or fruit by the general public, and what strength of evidence has to be allocated to such an association. METHODS: Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the studies available in the literature and the respective study results has been performed and evaluated regarding obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, cancer, chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, osteoporosis, eye diseases, and dementia. For judgement, the strength of evidence for a risk association, the level of evidence, and the number of studies were considered, the quality of the studies and their estimated relevance based on study design and size. RESULTS: For hypertension, CHD, and stroke, there is convincing evidence that increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit reduces the risk of disease. There is probable evidence that the risk of cancer in general is inversely associated with the consumption of vegetables and fruit. In addition, there is possible evidence that an increased consumption of vegetables and fruit may prevent body weight gain. As overweight is the most important risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus, an increased consumption of vegetables and fruit therefore might indirectly reduces the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Independent of overweight, there is probable evidence that there is no influence of increased consumption on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. There is possible evidence that increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit lowers the risk of certain eye diseases, dementia and the risk of osteoporosis. Likewise, current data on asthma, COPD, and RA indicate that an increase in vegetable and fruit consumption may contribute to the prevention of these diseases. For IBD, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, there was insufficient evidence regarding an association with the consumption of vegetables and fruit. CONCLUSIONS: This critical review on the associations between the intake of vegetables and fruit and the risk of several chronic diseases shows that a high daily intake of these foods promotes health. Therefore, from a scientific point of view, national campaigns to increase vegetable and fruit consumption are justified. The promotion of vegetable and fruit consumption by nutrition and health policies is a preferable strategy to decrease the burden of several chronic diseases in Western societies. Springer-Verlag 2012-06-09 2012 /pmc/articles/PMC3419346/ /pubmed/22684631 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00394-012-0380-y Text en © The Author(s) 2012 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
spellingShingle Review
Boeing, Heiner
Bechthold, Angela
Bub, Achim
Ellinger, Sabine
Haller, Dirk
Kroke, Anja
Leschik-Bonnet, Eva
Müller, Manfred J.
Oberritter, Helmut
Schulze, Matthias
Stehle, Peter
Watzl, Bernhard
Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases
title Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases
title_full Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases
title_fullStr Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases
title_full_unstemmed Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases
title_short Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases
title_sort critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3419346/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22684631
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00394-012-0380-y
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