Eating more fruits and veggies each day is linked to living longer, but eating more than five servings a day doesn't help much more.
Scientific Claim
Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables is associated with a 5% lower risk of all-cause mortality per additional serving per day, with a threshold beyond five servings daily beyond which no further risk reduction is observed.
Original Statement
“Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables was significantly associated with a lower risk of all cause mortality. Pooled hazard ratios of all cause mortality were 0.95 (95% confidence interval 0.92 to 0.98) for an increment of one serving a day of fruit and vegetables (P=0.001)... There was a threshold around five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, after which the risk of all cause mortality did not reduce further.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The study design (observational cohort meta-analysis) can only support associative claims. The authors correctly used 'associated with' and reported hazard ratios with confidence intervals, avoiding causal language.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
This big study found that eating one more serving of fruits or veggies each day lowers your chance of dying from any cause by 5%, but eating more than five servings a day doesn’t help any more.