Eating Your Fruits and Vegetables: 5 Servings A Day

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Are you taking the 5 A Day challenge? You may be if you find yourself:

• snacking on raw vegetables instead of potato chips
• adding fruit to your cereal at breakfast
• using the salad bar when you go out for lunch or to the grocery store
• loading up on juice instead of a usual coffee, tea or soda.

The challenge, offered by the National Cancer Institute — a branch of the National Institutes of Health — is to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and these are some ways consumers are rising to the occasion.

They're taking advantage of the healthful benefits of fruits and vegetables. Studies by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Academy of Sciences suggest that the nutritional goodness of fruits and vegetables, with a diet that is low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol and that contains plenty of whole-grain breads and cereals, may decrease the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Fruits' and vegetables' potential to help improve the health of Americans led NCI to begin a multi-year public education campaign in 1992. Its goal is to increase consumers' awareness of the importance of fruits and vegetables and to give consumers ideas on how they can increase their intake. With its partner, the Produce for Better Health (PBH) Foundation — a nonprofit consumer education foundation funded by the produce industry — NCI has taken the "5 A Day for Better Health" message to grocery stores, classrooms, television, work sites, churches, and elsewhere.

Food labeling of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables may carry the message, too. And if you need more specific nutrition information about a particular item, you can find it in the labeling of most products, as well. The Food and Drug Administration regulates this information, which corresponds to NCI's Five A Day guidance and the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Emphasis on More

A 1991 NCI and PBH survey, which has the best available, most up-to-date information on consumers' consumption of fruits and vegetables, found that the average American consumer eats only about three servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Forty-two percent eat less than two servings a day. Compare those figures with the five to nine servings a day recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and you can see that many of us have a way to go.

A major reason to eat more fruits and vegetables is their nutritiousness. Unless baked in a pie or dripping in butter, most are low in fat and calories — except avocados, coconut and olives, all of which contain fat naturally. Many are excellent sources of the important vitamins A and C and provide ample fiber.

In addition, many fruits and vegetables, particularly dried beans and peas, are significant sources of folate, a B vitamin that can help reduce the risk of certain serious and common birth defects. (See "How Folate Can Help Prevent Birth Defects" in the September 1996 FDA Consumer.)

Produce has other positive qualities. Many items, such as raisins, grapes, cherry tomatoes, and bananas, can be eaten on the spot, with minimal preparation. (Fresh produce, especially produce in which the peel will be eaten should be washed with water beforehand to remove any surface dirt and bacteria.) NCI campaign literature refers to fruits and vegetables as the "original fast food."

"They're easy to pick up and eat," said Daria Chapelsky, state coordinator for NCI's 5 A Day Program. "Just as easy as picking up fast food."

And, unlike other types of foods (such as those high in fat that many of us eat too much of), plain fruits and vegetables are items we don't need to restrict. Genda Potter, a registered dietitian for cardiac patients at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Ill., said that factor was a major reason she began a regular 5 A Day class for outpatients.

"I wanted to emphasize something positive," she said. "People often look on dietitians as people 'out-to-ruin-my-enjoyment-of-food.' But fruits and vegetables are foods they can add to their diet rather than something they're going to be told to take away."

No Excuses

Still, for any number of reasons, consumers often find it difficult to eat more fruits and vegetables. They may avoid them because they believe they are too expensive or take too long to prepare. These and other perceived problems became evident to NCI in 1991, when it asked members of small group studies to come up with reasons people may not want to or might be unable to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Their responses led NCI to develop ideas to help consumers overcome reported difficulties in meeting the 5 A Day goal. Some of those ideas follow, along with other information from nutritionists and food safety experts to help consumers overcome any reluctance they may have to eating fruits and vegetables.

Perceived Problem: Fruits and vegetables cost too much.

Possible Solutions:

It may help to realize, according to dietitians, that fruits and vegetables are actually good buys, if you consider that they are nutrient-dense, containing many of the vitamins and minerals we need more of — for example, vitamins A and C. But the foods we often buy in place of them — cookies and chips, for example — usually offer more of the nutrients — fat and sodium, for example — that most of us should eat less of.

And there are ways to reduce the costs of fruits and vegetables even further:

• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables in season. Not only will they be cheaper but they also will be at their flavor and nutritional peaks, Quagliani says.
• Clip coupons for money off on your favorite canned and frozen fruits and vegetables and juices.
• Watch local grocery advertisements for reduced prices on your favorite fruits and vegetables.
• If you're not partial to a particular brand, compare prices of different brands of canned and frozen fruits and vegetables and juices and buy the cheapest.

Perceived Problem: Fruits and vegetables take too long to prepare.

Possible Solutions:

• Take advantage of grocery store salad bars, which offer ready-to-eat raw vegetables and fruits and prepared salads made with fruits and vegetables.
• Keep on hand canned and frozen fruit, canned and bottled juices, and dried fruits. Just open and use.
• Stock up on frozen vegetables for easy cooking in the microwave oven.
• Prepare fruits and vegetables ahead of time; for example, wash and, if feasible, cut up fresh produce and store it in the refrigerator for handy, immediate use.

About the Author

www.fda.gov
FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.