Fruit-Rich Diet Might Lower Aneurysm Risk

Eating lots of fruit might decrease your risk of developing a dangerous abdominal aortic aneurysm, according to a large, long-running study. An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a bulge in the wall of the part of the aorta -- the largest artery in the body -- that runs through the abdomen. If an aneurysm ruptures, there is a high risk of death from bleeding. Ultrasound screening can detect the condition. In this study, researchers analyzed data from more than 80,000 people, aged 46 to 84, in Sweden who were followed for 13 years. During that time, nearly 1,100 of them had abdominal aortic aneurysms, including 222 whose aneurysms ruptured. People who ate more than two servings of fruit a day (not counting juice) had a 25 percent lower risk of the condition and a 43 percent lower risk of rupture than those who ate less than one serving of fruit a day. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_139874.html