Eating green and yellow vegetables makes your life longer

Eat your veggies and you may live longer, a study suggests. The study shows that eating foods rich in antioxidants, like vegetables and fruits, fights disease and may prolong life.

Researchers found that people with the highest levels of the antioxidant alpha-carotene in their blood had a 39% lower risk of death from any cause, including heart disease and cancer, than those who had the lowest levels of the antioxidant during the 14-year study, WebMD reports.

Researchers found those with higher levels of blood alpha-carotene levels had a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease or cancer.

And although chemically similar to beta-carotene, it may be more effective at inhibiting the growth of cancer cells in the brain, liver and skin.

Dr Li said: "Moreover, results from a population-based case-control study of the association between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and risk of lung cancer suggest that consumption of yellow-orange, carrots, sweet potatoes or pumpkin and winter squash, and dark-green, broccoli, green beans, green peas, spinach, turnips greens, collards and leaf lettuce, vegetables, which have a high alpha-carotene content, was more strongly associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer than was consumption of all other types of vegetables," Telegraph.co.uk reports.