Fruit & vegetables · the 500-800 g dose

果蔬摄入 · 500-800 g/天的剂量学

Place · Level 3 · Macros

5 份 = 400 g, 7-10 份 = 800 g · 收益在 800 g 后趋平 · 色彩多样 > 单一品种 · 果汁 ≠ 果实

Connected to · 1

cofactor · 1

Iron
Vitamin C eaten in the same meal reduces plant Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺, so produce does not merely contain iron — it sets how much of the non-heme iron alongside it is absorbed.

First: plants help, but they're not magic

Stop 1/6

先说清 · 多吃菜确实值, 但不是仙丹

The conclusion here is remarkably plain and remarkably solid: people who eat more fruit and vegetables generally live longer and have less cardiovascular disease (Aune 2017). This is probably the least controversial finding in all of nutrition.

But two caveats come first, so you don't go to extremes:

The benefit has a ceiling: more is not always better. The payoff roughly maxes out around 800 g of produce a day (about 10 servings), and beyond that the marginal benefit approaches zero (Aune 2017). So the goal is to eat enough, not to eat until you're stuffed.It's a dietary pattern, not a pill: people who eat lots of produce tend to have healthier lives overall (less processed food, more exercise), so part of the benefit comes from the whole package, not the produce alone. Hoping to copy this benefit with juice or vitamin pills will mostly fail (the mechanism scene explains why).
What this means for you: you don't have to become someone who only eats greens, and you don't need any influencer superfood. Moving your daily produce from 'not enough' to 'enough' (most people are still far short) is the highest-value step here. The scenes ahead lay out why it works, how much, how to make it happen, and who should be careful.

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Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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