A 20-year-long study has confirmed that eating healthy when young protects against heart disease decades later.

Young adults who ate the most fruit and vegetables were 26 per cent less likely to have hard deposits building up on their artery walls after 20 years.

Calcified plaques that narrow arteries restrict blood supply and can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Michael Miedema, from the Minneapolis Heart Institute in the US, said: “People shouldn’t assume that they can wait until they’re older to eat healthy.

“Our study suggests that what you eat as a young adult may be as important as what you eat as an older adult.”

A total of 2,506 men and women were recruited for the study on coronary artery risk development in young adults, which began in 1985.

People shouldn’t assume that they can wait until they’re older to eat healthy

Each participant provided a detailed diet history and other lifestyle information, including smoking habits and weight.

Twenty years later the volunteers were given computerised tomo-graphy (CT) scans to check for the build-up of calcium on the walls of heart arteries.

All participants were split into different groups according to the amount of fruit and vegetables in their diet.

Women in the top consumption group ate nearly nine servings of fruit and vegetables per day, while men in the top group ate more than seven.

In the bottom group, women consumed an average of 3.3 servings and men 2.6. All servings were based on a 2,000 calorie diet. The findings are reported in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Dr Miedema added: “Our findings support public health initiatives aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable intake as part of a healthy dietary pattern.