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Even after accounting for body weight, people who eat more fruits and vegetables still have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, meaning the benefit isn’t just because they’re thinner.
Correlational
People who eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day — as estimated by blood tests — have about a one-third lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who eat less.
Adding a little more fruit and veggies to your diet helps a lot if you’re eating little now — but adding even more beyond that doesn’t help as much.
Different plant pigments like lycopene (from tomatoes) and beta-carotene (from carrots) are linked to lower diabetes risk, but their benefits seem to work best together, not alone.
People with the highest levels of fruit and vegetable biomarkers in their blood are about half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as those with the lowest levels.
Leafy greens might help prevent diabetes because they contain good nutrients like magnesium and antioxidants that help your body use insulin better and fight cell damage.
Mechanistic
People who eat about 66 grams more fruits and vegetables each day — roughly one extra apple or a cup of carrots — have a 25% lower chance of getting type 2 diabetes, according to blood tests that measure plant nutrients.
There’s no sign that only studies showing benefits of leafy greens were published—so the results probably aren’t biased by hiding negative findings.
Descriptive
People with higher levels of carotenoids — natural pigments from fruits and vegetables — are significantly less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, even after accounting for weight and lifestyle.
Most studies asked people to remember what they ate over time, which isn’t very accurate—so the real link between leafy greens and diabetes might be even stronger than what was found.
People with more vitamin C in their blood — which comes from eating fruits and vegetables — are less likely to get type 2 diabetes, even after accounting for other healthy habits.
Most of the people in these studies were women, so we don’t know if eating more leafy greens helps men avoid diabetes the same way.
Different studies defined 'leafy greens' differently—some included spinach, others Chinese greens—so it's hard to know exactly what foods are linked to lower diabetes risk.
People who eat more fruits and vegetables—up to about 10 servings a day—are much less likely to develop heart disease, with the biggest drop in risk coming from adding even a few servings to their diet.
Many of the studies used in this review had weaknesses, like not fully accounting for factors like weight or family history of diabetes, which means we should be cautious about trusting the results too much.
Eating more carrots, sweet potatoes, and other orange or dark green veggies is linked to a lower chance of getting cancer, more than other types of vegetables.
Even when researchers looked at different groups of people, different ways of measuring diet, or different countries, eating more leafy greens still seemed to be linked to lower diabetes risk, which makes the finding more reliable.
Eating more fruits and veggies is linked to a small but real drop in the chance of getting cancer, but eating more than about 6 servings a day doesn’t help much more.
Eating more fruit and vegetables together doesn't seem to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a review of four large studies tracking thousands of adults over many years.
People who eat a lot of canned or sweetened fruit are more likely to die earlier than those who eat fresh fruit, possibly because of added sugar or processing.
Eating more vegetables like carrots or broccoli doesn't appear to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a review of five large studies tracking thousands of adults over many years.
People who eat more apples and pears each day are less likely to die from any cause, with each serving adding up to a meaningful drop in death risk over time.
Eating more fruit doesn't seem to lower the risk of getting type 2 diabetes, according to a review of five large studies tracking thousands of adults over many years.
Eating more oranges, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits is linked to a lower chance of having a stroke, with each extra serving helping a bit more.