Fruit prevents diabetes, complications and deaths

PLOS Medicine. 2017. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002279

Eating fresh fruit seems to reduce the risk of developing diabetes, according to research from China. In people with diabetes, fresh fruit seems to reduce mortality and cut the likelihood of developing major complications. The authors believe the study is the first large prospective investigation showing that fruit consumption reduces incident diabetes and diabetic complications.

The study followed 512,891 adults aged 30 to 79 years (mean 51 years) for about 7 years. At baseline, 5.9% had diabetes. Of those without diabetes at baseline, 1.96% developed diabetes. The analysis allowed for possible confounders, such as age, sex and socioeconomic status.