Better heart health may start with a prescription for fruits, vegetables

Have you eaten your recommended amount of fruits and vegetables today? Considering only about 1 in 10 American adults do so on a daily basis, it’s doubtful.

For those with lower incomes, it’s even less likely. The lack of nutrition from these foods has been linked to more than 300,000 annual deaths from heart disease and diabetes in the United States, Harvard Heart Health reported.

A recent study shows “prescribing” patients fruits and vegetables might help lower blood pressure and blood sugars, which can benefit heart health.

A produce prescription is a voucher health care workers can give out for free or discounted fruits and veggies at grocery stores or farmers markers.

For the study, researchers looked at data from nine produce prescription program across the U.S. About 2,000 adults and 1,800 children in low-income neighborhoods participated, receiving vouchers or cards worth $15-$300 a month, depending on family size.

Although the study found adults ate about one extra cup of fruits and vegetables a day, and children ate an extra quarter-cup, Anne Thorndike warned that there are flaws in the study. Thorndike is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who studies cardiometabolic disease prevention and nutrition security.

“Because of the study’s limitations, including a lack of a comparison group — which is standard practice in diet studies — those potential health benefits are hard to prove,” Thorndike told Harvard Heart Health.

She added that it’s...