A new report out of the University College London in the United Kingdom suggests keeping the Grim Reaper at bay requires a minimum seven servings of vegetables and fruits every day.

Researchers used the annual Health Survey for England, which has run since 1991, to study the eating habits of 65,226 people representative of the English population between 2001 and 2013. They found out that the more fruit and vegetables the study participants ate, the less likely they were to die -- at any stage of life.

In other words, eating seven or more portions of vegetables and fruits reduces the risk of death from cancer by 25 percent and heart disease by 31 percent. The research goes on to note that vegetables appear to have significantly higher health benefits than fruit.

Compared to eating less than one portion of fruit and vegetables a day, the risk of death from any cause is reduced 14 percent by eating one to three portions day, 29 percent by eating three to five portions, 36 percent by consuming for five to seven portions, and 42 percent for seven or more.

The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, concluded that fresh vegetables have the strongest protective effect, with each daily portion reducing the overall risk of death by 16 percent.

Salad, it was found, contributed to a 13 percent risk reduction, while each portion of fresh fruit was associated with a 4 percent risk reduction.

"We all know that eating fruit and vegetables is healthy, but the size of the effect is staggering," study lead Oyinlola Oyebode of UCL's Department of Epidemiology & Public Health said in a news release. "The clear message here is that the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die at any age. Vegetables have a larger effect than fruit, but fruit still makes a real difference. If you're happy to snack on carrots or other vegetables, then that is a great choice but if you fancy something sweeter, a banana or any fruit will also do you good."

However, Oyebode said, "people shouldn't feel daunted by a big target like seven. Whatever your starting point, it is always worth eating more fruit and vegetables. In our study, even those eating one to three portions had a significantly lower risk than those eating less than one."

The researchers found no significant benefit from consuming fruit juice, while canned and frozen fruit appeared to increase the risk of death by 17% per portion.

"Most canned fruit contains high sugar levels and cheaper varieties are packed in syrup rather than fruit juice," Oyebode explained. "The negative health impacts of the sugar may well outweigh any benefits. Another possibility is that there are confounding factors that we could not control for, such as poor access to fresh groceries among people who have pre-existing health conditions, hectic lifestyles or who live in deprived areas."