8 Servings A Day Of Fruits And Vegetables

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- I have learned over the years that there can be a great value in reading journals from other countries. It gives us insight into what is going on around the world and many of the journals can help us learn about medications or lifestyle changes that can help us.

A report from the European Heart Journal is definitely worth telling you about. This report looked at fruits and vegetables and found that people who ate eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day had a 22% lower risk of dying from heart disease than those who ate three servings a day.

We recommend five portions a day but there is no harm in increasing the amount. Of course sometimes this can be difficult to achieve -- that's a lot of fruits and vegetables. But the key point to take home is reach for healthy snacks. Take advantage of these opportunities.

Finally, in case you are curious, the highest amount of vegetables and fruits were eaten by people living in Greece, Italy and Spain.

Reported By Dr. Brian McDonough, KYW Newsradio Medical Editor