When people swap junk food for veggies, they feel better — but it’s because they stopped eating junk, not because veggies are magic.

This study found that eating more of a special kind of broccoli lowered bad cholesterol, even though people didn’t change anything else in their diet — so it’s the broccoli itself helping, not just cutting out junk food.

The study only looked at what happened when people ate more fruits and veggies, but didn't check if they also ate less junk food, so we can't tell if the health improvements were because of more veggies or less processed food.

The study shows that eating more fruits and veggies is linked to lower diabetes risk, but it doesn’t check if people also ate less junk food — so we can’t say if the benefit comes from veggies or from cutting out processed foods.