Ever heard about the „5 a day“-initiative?

In Germany (left logo) and in Switzerland (right logo) „5 a day“ is a health initiative (GER: „5 am Tag“) with the goal to get everybody to eat more fruit and vegetable. (In the US they recently changed the “5 a day” to “fruits & veggies – more matters” and in GB the initiative is part of the NHS’ “change 4 life”-plan.)

Why do they do that?

Fruits and vegetables provide huge amounts of essential vitamins and minerals (=micronutrients) and phytochemicals. At the same time they contain only few calories and small amounts of fats, but loads of water and fibre. So when we eat big amounts of fruit and veg and lesser amounts of unhealthier foods (e.g. greasy fries, which contain mostly carbohydrates and fat but only few micronutrients), our bodies will be provided with everything they need to function properly, we won’t gain weight and feel fit and healthy.

Why should we consume ideally 3 Portions of vegetables and 2 portions of fruits?

Fruits do not necessarily contain fewer or lesser important Vitamins, but they are sweet and therefore provide much more sugar than vegetables. Of course sugars from fruit are much better than refined sugar, but they are still sugars! Veggies on the other hand are amazing providers of fibre, that humans need in decent amounts to support their digestive system. They also yield many vitamins that you hardly find in fruit (e.g. folic acid).

By the way, most people achieve the recommended amount of 2 portions of fruit a day, but only few eat their 3 portions of vegetables:

According to the German National Consumer-Study in 2008 (GER: “Nationale Verzehrsstudie”) the average German male consumes only a third of the recommended daily vegetable-amount, and women ate only a few grams more than that. Only 13 % of all respondents reached the recommended amount of 3 portions (approx. 400 g or 14 oz) of vegetables a day.

The recommended amount of 2 portions of fruit on the other hand was achieved by 40 % of all interviewees. Men were on average slightly below the suggested amount, women slightly above.

In Switzerland (see the Swiss Diet Report, GER: “Schweizer Ernährungsbrericht”) the amount of consumed vegetables looked just slightly better than the German data. About half of the recommended daily amount is consumed there, but like in Germany only 13 % of all respondents actually reached the suggested 3 portions.

Concerning fruits, the data looks anything but better: The Swiss consume only about 170 g instead of the recommended 250 g (or 9 oz). That equals about 1.4 portions.

The US and British statistics don’t look much better either. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and the NHS (National Health Service in GB) both agree that an increased intake of fruits and vegetables will improve the overall health of all Americans and of the British.

How much fruit and veg do you consume every day? Do you eat more vegetables than fruit? Where do you see yourself compared to the statistics above? Where are you at compared to the recommended amounts?

All of us can surely still increase our fruit and especially our vegetable intake. It would be best to start today. Our bodies will be deeply grateful.