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News Roundup [abridged Versions Appear In The Paper Journal]

Men should eat nine servings of fruit and vegetables a day

BMJ 2003; 326 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7397.1003/a (Published 10 May 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;326:1003
  1. Scott Gottlieb
  1. New York

    The US National Cancer Institute is launching a publicity campaign to boost men's fruit and vegetable consumption to nine servings a day. Although past campaigns have touted the need for five servings a day, health experts now say five is just the bare minimum.

    Although men are the focus of the new campaign, health officials note that women should increase their consumption to seven servings a day and children should eat at least five. The institute, which for more than a decade has spearheaded the “Eat 5 a Day” publicity campaign, has changed its logo to the more accurate but cumbersome “Eat 5 to 9 a Day.”

    According to the institute, based in Bethesda, Maryland, only 23% of adults eat at least five daily servings of fruit and vegetables. Only 4% of men consume nine. More than a third of the population eats only one or two servings, and 4% eat less than that.

    A serving consists of at least a small glass of fruit or vegetable juice or a medium sized orange, banana, or apple. One US “cup” (a small bowl) of salad greens is considered to be a serving.

    The institute said that for every additional serving of fruit and vegetables eaten regularly, a person lowers their risk for heart disease by 4%. Women who ate seven to 10 daily servings of fruits and vegetables lowered their risk of heart attack by 40%. In other studies, fruit and vegetable consumption has been shown to lower blood pressure.

    “The big effect is getting to two a day, and there's more with five and more with nine,” said Walter Willett, professor of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. “Every step you can take along the way, there is benefit.”

    There is good evidence that folic acid, found in spinach, oranges, and lettuce, reduces the risk for colon cancer. Other research has shown that high consumption of tomatoes is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer.

    “There are clear health benefits [to high consumption], but it looks like it's more on the cardiovascular side than the cancer side,” says Dr Willett. “On the cancer side it comes down to specific vegetables and specific cancers.”

    According to the institute, research shows that people who eat few fruits and vegetables—less than one serving a day—are at higher risk of cancer than those who eat at least two or three servings. The institute said that fruit and vegetables contain vitamins, minerals, fibre, and thousands of phytochemicals, which work together as part of a healthy diet to promote good health and reduce the risk of disease.

    The institute says that specific phytochemicals—such as lycopene, lutein, flavonoids, anthocyanins, indoles, and allium act—in different ways to protect health at the cellular level. In addition, different colours of fruit and vegetables—green, yellow/orange, red, blue/purple, and white—are sources of different groups of phytochemicals, with properties that also exert unique health benefits.

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