Another reason to eat an apple a day: Two daily servings of fruit could lower your risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)—the swelling of the blood vessel that supplies blood to your abdomen—by 31 percent, according to new Swedish research.
Docs don’t know exactly why an aneurysm develops, but smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure are all risk factors. And if aneurysms rupture, they can be life-threatening. So where does fruit come in? Antioxidant flavanoids called procyanidins—found in fruit, but not most vegetables—provide protection, says study coauthor Otto Stackelberg, M.D.
Procyanidins inhibit a specific enzyme that can lead to inflammation associated with the condition, Dr. Stackelberg adds. (In fact, eating vegetables didn’t make a difference in AAA odds.)
AAA is rare—it affects just 1.3 percent of men between 45 and 54, and 12.5 percent of men ages 75 to 84, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But research suggests that meeting your fruit quota can do everything from boosting your mood to protecting you from disease—and this study is just another reason to fill up on the 2 cups of fruit a day the CDC recommends.
A small apple and eight strawberries meet your daily needs; other procyanidin-rich foods include chocolate and red wine.
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