BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- People are often recommended to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, but only a minority people take the advice. A new research may motivate more people to do so.

BBC reported a new study Tuesday that found eating lots of vegetables and fruits can weaken the effect of a gene variant called 9p21, which is reported to be one of the strongest predictors for heart disease, thereby reducing risks of heart disease.

The researchers from McMaster and McGill universities studied the diets of more than 27,000 people around the world, including Europe, China, and Latin America.

They found that people with the high-risk gene appeared to have a similar risk of heart disease as people with a low-risk variant of that gene after consuming a diet with a healthy amount of vegetables and fruits.

But how diet has such an effect on the gene was unknown, said Dr. Sonia Anand, a lead author of the study published in PLoS Medicine journal.

Anand added, "Despite having a high genetic risk for heart disease, a healthy lifestyle can actually turn off the gene."

The message here is very clear, eating plenty of vegetables and fruits is definitely good to people's heart health, according to BBC.