Head on over to TIME.COM and check out a recently published
study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. This was a big study
over 14 years, which found the higher blood concentrations you have
of the antioxidant alpha-carotene -- found in a variety of
vegetables -- the lower your risk of dying.
The lower amount of veggies you eat, the quicker you perish.
How many more studies do you need to underscore the obvious? The
last paragraph of the article starts: "Americans could use a push
to eat more vegetables."
What it really should say: "People everywhere could use a push to
eat only plants!" Read the entire article at
http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/22/
study-veggies-still-really-good-for-you
Thanks to VegSource.com for telling us about the article.
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Your mom wasn't lying about those veggies. A new study released by
the Archives
of Internal Medicine reveals that people with high blood
levels of the antioxidant alpha-carotene — found in a variety of
vegetables — were less likely to die during a 14-year longitudinal
study, compared with people with low levels of the
carotenoid.
According to the study, a major contributor to chronic diseases
like cancer and heart disease may be oxygen-related damage of DNA,
protein and fat cells. That damage can be mitigated by the
antioxidant action of carotenoids, such as beta-carotene,
alpha-carotene and lycopene. Most people get these nutrients
through foods, like fruits and veggies, that are loaded with
them.
For the new study, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) monitored alpha-carotene levels in the blood
of 15,318 adults, age 20 or older, who participated in the Third
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Follow-up Study
between 1988 and 1994. In 2006, researchers surveyed how many of
their sample had died and from what cause. They found that 3,810
had died, and that people with the highest levels of alpha-carotene
in the blood were significantly less likely to die than those with
lowest levels.
Compared with the lowest-level group, those with between 0 and 1
micrograms of alpha-carotene per deciliter of blood — a small, but
normal amount — people who had between 2 and 3 mcg/dL of
alpha-carotene were 23% less likely to die of any cause. What's
more, the risk of death decreased as alpha-carotene increased:
people with 4–5 mcg/dL were 27% less likely to die than people in
the lowest-level group; the reduction in death risk was 34% for
those in the 6–8 mcg/dL group, and 39% for people in the
highest-level group, with 9 mcg/dL or higher.
In addition to the overall lower risk of all-cause mortality,
researchers also found a lower risk of cancer and heart disease in
people with high levels of alpha-carotene. This is noteworthy in
light of a recent observational study that
found that eating vegetables didn't do much to prevent cancer.
Still, other evidence has suggested that high-veggie diets are
associated with lower heart disease risk and that certain
vegetables contain powerful cancer-fighting compounds.
Indeed, the authors of the current study note that alpha-carotene,
which is found in yellow-orange veggies like carrots, squash and
sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens like kale, broccoli, spinach
and collard greens, may be particularly effective in inhibiting the
growth of certain cancers.
Americans could use a push to eat more vegetables. In a recent
survey, the CDC found that less than a third of adults eat even two
servings of fruit each day and only a quarter eat three servings of
vegetables. Hopefully the new evidence will remind some people to
up their intake.