Antioxidants in fresh foods help the body produce healthy red blood cells. People who do not eat enough of these create cells that are damaged, scientists at Swansea University found.
Junk food addicts who favour burgers and buns over fresh fruit and vegetables have a sharply increased number of blood cells with cancer-linked mutations.
Junk food addicts who favour burgers and buns over fresh fruit and vegetables have a sharply increased number of blood cells with cancer-linked mutations.
Red cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the body's tissues, and remove waste carbon dioxide, making them a vital part of human wellbeing.
Examining red blood cells provides a useful indicator about someone's health, The Sunday Times reported.
Dr Hasan Haboubi, a gastroenterologist and cancer researcher, said: 'We have found that lifestyle, and especially diet, is intimately linked to the health of our tiniest cells.
'If we have a bad diet it is rapidly reflected in the state of those cells.'
Dr Haboubi studied red blood cells, which are created by stem cells in the bone marrow.
As stem cells move all around the body they are affected by a lots of lifestyle factors including diet, exercise and exposure to radiation.
If these are mutated, faulty blood cells are created.
A healthy person should have no more than three to five cells that have mutated per million.
People who eat low levels of fruit and vegetables had more than double the mutation rate.
The findings were revealed when Dr Haboubi was trying to develop a blood test for cancer.
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