Five-a-day message may not be hitting home

Despite constant media reports of the growing public health problems, including an 'obesity epidemic', a new study suggests many Americans may not even be eating the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables each day.

Nutritionists advise that we eat at least five portions of fruit and or vegetables daily - a seemingly simple way of ensuring better health. But in a study of an adult population in Olmsted County, Minnesota, only 16 per cent of survey respondents reported a daily diet that included at least five servings of fruit and vegetables.

Authors of a new study on fruit and vegetable intake note that four of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of adult mortality in the world, are affected by dietary choices: blood cholesterol level, blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.Dietary guidelines from the American Heart Associationand the dietary goals outlined in the healthobjectives for Healthy People 2010, both recommend a diet with five or more servings of fruits and vegetablesper day, with no more than 30 per cent of calories fromfat. But application of these goals in the US population has been less than ideal, they say. The Mayo Clinic researchers conducted a random telephone survey between March 1 and April 21, 1999, of 1232 adults living in Olmsted County. The survey respondents then received a structured questionnaire and 732 individuals completed the information.

Percentages of individuals and predictors of those who meet recommendations for intake of fruits and vegetables and for dietary fats were determined by testing general association and multivariate logistic regression.

Only 16 per cent of the Olmsted County population reported meeting standard dietary recommendations for five fruit and vegetables each day and no more than 30 per cent of calories from fat. Fifty-one per cent of the population met neither recommendation.

Women were more likely than men to report meeting both goals (22 per cent vs 8 per cent), but still more women were meeting neither goal than were meeting both goals, said the team. Non-smokers and those people with a lower body mass index were also more likely to have healthier dietary habits.

"More effective interventions are needed to improve dietary habits in all subgroups of this community," concluded the authors. The findings suggest that the health message may not be reaching many groups of the country's population.

This study was supported in part by McNeil Consumer Healthcareand Mayo Foundation. Full findings are reported in this month's Mayo Clinic Proceedings​.