Health
5 Days challenge? You may be if
you find yourself Fit and Fine
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 in which the peel will
be eaten should be rinsed 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.
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