WHY DO WE NEED FRUIT AND VEG?

extracted from “The trouble with fruit and veg,” by Bibi van der Zee, The Guardian, Saturday January 8, 2005

Why do we need fruit and veg? Because, explains Paul Sacher, specialist dietician at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, they have two vital roles in the body's maintenance. "First of all, we need them for fibre, or roughage, which is an absolutely essential part of our diet. It's responsible for keeping things moving in our digestive system, and it also feeds the bacteria which live in the digestive tract, which in turn produce substances that keep our gut healthy.

"Secondly, fruit and vegetables are an important source of vitamins, minerals, and trace elements, which we have recently come to understand much better. Trace elements, such as selenium, copper and zinc, act as antioxidants. That is to say, as their names suggest, they help to prevent oxidation, which is the process of decay. So they keep cells in better condition, and also mop up free radicals. Free radicals are molecules generated in the body by radiation from the sun, or pollution, which cause damage to the cells, possibly even cancer."

Fruit and vegetables can also contain a lot of other useful substances, such as a fibre called pectin found in apples, which has recently been shown to help keep cholesterol levels stable, or the enzyme bromelin in pineapples, which is a brilliant aid to digestion of proteins.

The first steps towards accepting the importance of fruit and vegetables appear to have been made by Dr Ancel Keys, an American scientist who died in November last year aged 100, who noticed in the 1940s that rates of heart disease amongst so-called healthy American males were far higher than those on the starving mainland of postwar Europe. During a tour of a hospital in Naples, a medical colleague explained to him that heart disease was not a problem in Italy. Keys began a huge project that would become known as the Seven Countries Study, comparing the diets and lifestyles of 12,000 men between the ages of 40 and 59 from Italy, the Greek Islands, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Finland, Japan, and the United States. The results were fairly unequivocal: the countries around the Mediterranean, particularly Italy and Greece, with diets based on fruit and vegetables, bread and pasta, and olive oil, had low cholesterol levels and fewer heart attacks.

The Mediterranean Diet, as Dr Keys titled it, began to stir up a row in the medical establishment which is only being settled today. "The evidence has just grown and grown, until no one can ignore it any longer," says Dr Clare Shaw, consultant dietician at the Royal Marsden, one of the leading cancer specialist hospitals in Europe, and also author of the forthcoming book, Cancer: The Power of Food. "A recent study in America followed thousands of women over ten years to find out whether following certain guidelines on diet and lifestyle would improve their chances of preventing cancer. There was a 22% reduction in the cancer risk, which is just an incredible figure."

The sad truth is that there is not a lot of money in fruit and vegetables: the expensive lobbyists all work for the other side. Firms like Hill & Knowlton (the PR firm who recently were challenged by the Food Commission for a statement that eating a bowl of Kellogg's Reduced Sugar Frosties was healthier than eating a banana) are more likely to be employed by the companies selling sweets, breakfast cereals and soft drinks than they are by apple growers or tangerine importers . . . Margaret Thatcher chose to protect business interests and tried to bury the report by her own NACNE (National Advisory Committee on Nutrition Education), which concluded in 1983 that too much fat, salt, sugar and meat, and too little fresh fruit, vegetables and fibre contributes to the incidence of cancer and other "diseases of civilisation". In 1992 the US Department of Agriculture was accused of favouring corporations over the public, after meat and dairy producers managed to get the Food Pyramid (a plan that told you how much to eat of each food group) withdrawn because they were unhappy with its guidelines.

Those arguing for a diet based largely on wholegrains, fruit and vegetables have historically been labelled "cranks". But now the evidence appears to be undeniable. The World Health Organisation this year stated: "Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are ... among the leading causes of the major non-communicable diseases ... and contribute substantially to disease, death and disability."

If you are still struggling to eat your five a day, the bad news is that 400g of fruit and vegetables is seen by most experts as the absolute minimum that we should be eating. In the States, the five-a-day campaign has been around since 1988, when the state of California piloted it, and Dr Lorelei di Sogra, who worked on it then and is now director of the five-a-day campaign for the National Cancer Institute, says that they currently perceive the ideal minimum to be five for children, seven for women, and nine for men. "Here in the States people eat an average of 4.6-4.7 portions a day," she says . . . In Australia the government recommendation is seven a day, in Greece it's nine, and it's ten in Canada and France. In fact, nine portions is the number put forward by many dieticians and campaigners in Britain.


HERE'S HOW MUCH FRUIT AND VEG YOU SHOULD BE EATING
Perhaps the most difficult part of the "five a day" mantra is knowing what constitutes a portion: it should be about 80g [3 oz.), after you've peeled/pipped/chopped the fruit/vegetables up . . . For example, a portion of dried apple would be about four rings. Other portion sizes would comprise about three whole dried apricots; half an avocado; one handful of blackberries; three heaped tablespoons of cooked broad beans, but four of french beans; two spears of broccoli; three heaped tablespoons of shredded cabbage; a third of a cereal bowl of shredded carrots; three sticks of celery; two clementines; 14 fresh cherries; two fresh figs; five spears of fresh asparagus (but seven of tinned); half a grapefruit; four heaped tablespoons of cooked curly kale; two kiwi fruits; two slices of mango, but one slice of melon; one heaped tablespoon of mixed dried fruit; one third of an aubergine; one large parsnip; two rings of tinned pineapple; six canned prunes; one medium onion; one handful of sugarsnap peas; one tablespoon of raisins; three heaped tablespoons of tinned sweetcorn; one medium pear, one handful of blackberries; five to six passion fruit; two small satsumas; half a large courgette [zucchini]; eight Brussels sprouts; three heaped tablespoons of chick peas; one nectarine; six lychees; eight spring onions; 14 button mushrooms; two handfuls of fresh raspberries; two heaped tablespoons of cooked spinach and one medium tomato, or seven cherry tomatoes.

By the way, potatoes don't count, but baked beans do (three tablespoons count as one portion). It doesn't matter how much fruit juice you drink, it still only equals one portion, something to do with the fibre content.

Once you've familiarised yourself with the portion sizes, the next step is to mix it all up a bit: for the best possible results, you should eat a rainbow of different-coloured fruit and vegetables - cooked is good, but fresh and raw are better. Fruit and vegetables are an astonishing medicine cabinet: apples are good for your heart and for digestive systems, and can also bring down cholesterol; apricots, stuffed with beta-carotene and iron, are good for infections and cancer prevention; artichokes were famous in European folk medicine as friends of the liver and heart and good for high blood pressure; avocados, though fatty, are a complete food, rich in just about everything. Bananas contain essential potassium (keeps our cells functioning) zinc, iron, folic acid or calcium, as well as being extremely good for our digestive tracts. Broccoli, along with cauliflower, cabbage, kale, radishes, spring greens, turnips and brussels sprouts, belong to the crucifer family, which is known for its protective powers against cancer. Cabbage is wonderful for anaemia as a good source of iron and chlorophyll; a single carrot can supply your entire vitamin A needs for one day. Garlic is famous for its powers against cancer, heart problems, major infectious diseases, rheumatism, arthritis (onions are in the same group and nearly as powerful); pineapples can aid digestion, oranges improve iron absorption, pumpkin is preventive against lung cancer, strawberries fight high blood pressure, oh the list goes on and on ...