ABSTRACT
One of the more consistent findings in nutritional epidemiology research is that
those who consume higher amounts of fruits and vegetables tend to have lower
rates of heart and vascular diseases, including coronary heart disease and
stroke (1-5). Data from short-term dietary intervention trials largely confirm
these findings, suggesting that diets emphasizing fruit and vegetable intake lead
to improvements in coronary risk factors and reduce cardiovascular mortality
(6-8). For example, use of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension
(DASH) diet, in part emphasizing increases in fruit and vegetable intake, resulted
in improvements in blood pressure (6) and possibly high-density lipoprotein
(HDL) cholesterol (9). The precise mechanisms for these apparent protective
effects are not entirely clear; however, much attention has been focused on the
notion that micronutrients with antioxidant properties might be responsible for
the associated lower rates of chronic diseases.
