5 A Day

The government have decided to promote the idea that we should all eat at least five portions of fruit and veg, every day to help keep us healthy. But where did they get the number from?

It turns out that the original five a day was started as the “National five-a-day for better health” program in the USA in 1991 as a partnership between the National Cancer Institute and the Produce for Better Health Foundation. The original program was launched with no actual science to back it up and it has been claimed to have been little more than a marketing ploy by the Institute and the Produce for Better Health Foundation members, which coincidentally turn out to represent most of the US fruit and vegetable growers, and some of the companies that produce the fungicides, insecticides and herbicides used on the crops.

Several organisations have tried to reverse engineer some science into the slogan, but opinions still vary as to how effective five portions of fruit and veggies at countering illness and obesity. This doesn't mean we shouldn't stop eating our veggies, rather we should look at what we are eating and try to make sure we are eating good food.

My theory is that if we look at our bodies and in particular our teeth, it is a safe bet that we evolved to eat a varied or omnivorous diet, just like our relatives the apes. And it is very rare to see an obese chimp in the wild, so we would do well to imitate their diet. Now even on my most enthusiastic healthy eating days I couldn't eat the same food as chimps, but making sure I eat plenty of raw fruit and veggies, lean meat, seeds, grains and natural oils and fats, I get good food my body can utilise correctly. Highly processed foods, take away, packet foods etc all contain abnormally high levels of nutritionally poor calories. What I am finding is the more food I eat that I have cooked or prepared from raw ingredients, the better I feel both physically and mentally.

So don't stress if you can't manage five portions of fruit and veggies every day, but do pay careful attention to what you do eat. Read the ingredients and the small print and understand what you are really eating. Try to make informed and healthy choices and your body will reward you.



The Science:
Paolo Boffetta et al, “Fruit and vegetable intake and overall cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)”, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, (April 2010).