Even when researchers accounted for people changing their diet because they were already sick, the link between eating more fruits and veggies and living longer still held up.
Scientific Claim
The association between fruit and vegetable intake and reduced mortality is robust across multiple sensitivity analyses, including lagged dietary assessments and exclusion of early deaths, reducing concern for reverse causation.
Original Statement
“The nonlinear dose-response relationships between intakes of fruit and vegetables remained largely unchanged in the four sensitivity analyses... including excluding the first 4 years of follow-up or adding a 4-year lag period between dietary assessment and each follow-up period.”
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 claim correctly reflects the robustness of findings using associative language and acknowledges the study's design limitations without overstating causality.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality
People who ate more fruits and veggies lived longer, and this was true even when researchers made sure it wasn’t just because sick people ate less—because they tracked diets over time and left out people who got sick early.