Start them out right in life and they are on a pathway to health later on….that’s what I’ve always thought, that eating habits are formed at a young age.

Eating Healthy Early Has It's Benefits

According to an analysis by the Minneapolis Heart Institute, eating the most fruits and vegetables as young adults leads to reduced risk of heart disease later in life.

That seems about right, don’t you think? By focusing on healthy food, like fruits and vegetables, and adopting a healthy lifestyle early on in life to prevent diseases later on.

Researchers noted that most of the studies to date focused on older people, but logic would reason that the same would be true for younger people as well.

Therefore, they examined the government-funded Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study. The observational study began in 1985, when researchers collected data from 2,506 participants aged 18 to 30 years old. The researchers divided the participants into three groups, those who ate the most produce on an average of seven to nine servings per day as young adults, while the bottom third ate two to three servings daily and the middle fell somewhere in between the two groups.

Fruits and Veggies Reduce Heart Disease Risk

Fast-forward to 2005, the study participants had CT scans to check for calcium buildup in the arteries of the heart. Those who ate the most fruits and vegetables had the least calcified plaque buildup in their arteries decades later, which indicates a reduced risk of heart disease.

Most people in the U.S. do not get the daily recommendation of four servings of vegetables and three servings of fruits daily for active women and men.

Do you get your daily recommendation of fruits and vegetables every day? If not, why not start today and establish healthier eating habits that may help you reduce your risk of heart disease, as well as a host of other diseases.