Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
The association between high fruit/vegetable intake - particularly vegetables - is of course just that, an association, and it may be that those who ate lots of fruit/vegetables had no room for calorie dense foods and this contributed to the benefit. It is difficult to eat too much fruit/vegetables in the calorific sense, unless of course you smother them in sugar/fat.
Those in the study with the highest intakes of fruit/vegetables were more likely to be female, non-smokers, better educated and on a higher income - though the statisticians did try to adjust for this. But they tried to adjust for these things when HRT was felt to be the best thing since sliced bread - or should that be parsnips?
So statistically speaking, a sex change and a change to a high-pressure job may be just as good for me. There was a good article by Tim Harford on the difference between causation and associations. Umbrellas are associated with rain but don't cause rain.

Until there is some decent evidence, I'll take this all with[out] a pinch of salt - there is better evidence on the effects of salt intake.