If Americans ate just one more serving of fruits or vegetables per day, this would save more than 30,000 lives and $5 billion in medical costs each year, according to a 2013 Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) report, The $11 Trillion Dollar Reward, released earlier this month.
According to the Report, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables could save more than 100,000 lives and $17 billion in health care costs from heart disease each year.
And yet another finding from the report: medical costs of treating heart disease and stroke were estimated at $94 billion in 2010, and this figure is projected to nearly triple by 2030.
The Report argues that, one good way to get more fruits and vegetables into diets is to increase accessibility and affordability to locally grown food. And here the Report makes a number of policy recommendations including:
- Changing research priorities
- Removing planting restrictions
- Making crop insurance more available
- Promoting the growth of farmers markets
- Facilitating the use of nutrition benefits such as SNAP (Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program) at local-food markets
- Educating consumers
Watch what an apple a day can do for your heart health.
