Eating vegetables ‘vital to protecting health’

The Medical Research Council has underlined the importance of vegetable consumption in the prevention of health conditions such as diabetes.

Dr Susan Jebb, nutrition scientist at the MRC, has welcomed a new paper from the British Medical Journal which highlights the benefits of green leafy vegetables in particular.

According to the research, consuming 1.35 servings of these vegetables on a daily basis results in a 14 per cent reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to those consuming 0.2 servings per day.

Dr Jebb called these findings "useful" but said the conclusions presented are not "anything very new".

She said that studies of this kind should help to promote the advantages of healthy diets including both fruit and vegetables, as both food types carry different health benefits.

"If we think of some of the cancer stories, it does appear to be the leafy green vegetables which seem to have particularly protective effects," she added.