Cardiac disease is the leading cause of death in the US. Even though the medical profession has made some advances in the treatment of this disease using medication little is being done to address the cause – poor diet.
Some recent studies have shown that coronary heart disease (CHD) risk decreases by 4% for each portion of fruit and vegetables that is consumed. A 2005 French study, that was a meta-analysis of 230,000 people of a wide range of ages, found that stroke risk decreases by 11% for each extra portion of fruit and 3% for each extra portion of vegetables
Why is it that as Americans, where we have an abundance of fresh vegetables and fruit, our diet is lacking these healthy foods? A large part is due to the extensive amount of money that the food manufacturing industry spends on advertising their unhealthy products. As an example, in 1993 the NCI spent $400,000 promoting the 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day for better health campaign, whereas the Kellogg company spent $34,000,000 promoting its highly processed and sugared Frosted Flakes to the public in 1992.