One group of 199 women were asked to eat a Mediterranean diet, involving four portions of vegetables, three pieces of fruit and one serving of grains a day, together with four or more servings of fish each week, some red and processed meat and plenty of olive oil.
For example, a student who reports a low intake of whole grains (1 serving per day) may set a goal to have 3 or more servings of whole grains per day.
For example, fewer than two older people in five eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Compared with those who gained the most weight, participants in the Nurses Health Studyy who lost weight consumed 3.1 more servings of vegetables each day.
People who ate two or more servings of fish a week reduced their risk for dementia by 39percentt, but there was no effect on the risk for dementia among those who ate less than that.
We know we are expected to eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day, so that's what we say when we are asked, and we may even really believe it to be true.
But the analysis, in Archives of Ophthalmology, found that women who had reported eating one or more servings of fish per week were 42 percent less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration than those who ate less than a serving each month.
After controlling for age, race, body mass index, smoking and other factors, the researchers found that women in the highest fifth for omega-3 consumption -- those who consumed three or more servings of fish a week -- were 33 percent less likely than women in the lowest fifth to have adenomatous polyps, a type likely to become cancerous.
Participants consumed significantly more servings of whole fruit and nonfat dairy products following the intervention and fewer servings of vegetable fats (all P<0.05).
More intervention than control parents reported they intended their child to get five or more servings of fruits/vegetables on most days during the next 30 days (25% vs 9%; P=0.049).
People who ate two or more servings of brown rice per week had an 11% reduced risk of developing the condition compared with those who ate less than one serving a month.
