Five servings of fruits and vegetables a day for good health? Turns out we need 8 servings

For many years, our government has encouraged us to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day for good health. Now it turns out that even that goal might still fall a little short.

Research published in the last 2 weeks reveals that 8 servings is more like what is needed to help reduce heart disease. Scientists studied 300,000 Europeans and concluded that people who ate high fruit and vegetable diets, including at least 8 serviongs per day, had a 22% lower risk of dying from heart disease than people who consumed only three servings per day. And each serving reduced the risk by another 4%.

Considering that heart disease is the main killer of Americans, eating more fruit and vegetabes seems like a pretty easy choice.

Fruit and vegetable consumption among Americans is pretty dismal, even if you include French fries in the statistics. Only about 11% of Americans take in the recommended number of portions of fruit and vegetables.

The research on the benefits of fruit and vegetables continues to accumulate. The new 2010 American Dietary Guidelines, just out, call for an increase in these food areas. I'll blog about these new recommendations soon.

Enjoy your broccoli and that apple a day!