How fruits and veggies prevent chronic disease

Adding to the mounting evidence that a diet high in fruit and vegetables notably lowers someone’s chance of developing chronic conditions such as heart disease or cancer, the Institute of Food Research has claimed to know a bit more about why those risk are actually lowered by such a diet.

Many types of fruit and vegetables are high in polythenols which growing evidence suggests naturally provides health benefits by protecting against degenerative diseases.

Most recently, the Institute of Food Research looked specifically at apples and green tea. They found the polyphenols in them block the signalling molecule VEGF, which is required for blood vessels to grow which is important in cancer progression and plaques which cause heart attacks.

A lot of the research in how apples and green tea help prevent disease and keep you healthy is based in the polythenols they contain, though the link between those polythenols and the VEGF molecule is more recent and in need of further research.