Five a day? More like 10 a day!
New study reveals how an increase in our RDA can help us live longer
A new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health says that eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day can help us live longer. In light of this we asked Dr. Marilyn Glenville PhD, marilynglenville.co.uk the UK’s leading Nutritionist and natural health expert to give us her thoughts… ‘I have always thought that the five a day message was too low and apparently the UK five-a-day target came about because the Government thought this was something most people might manage, but research has shown that only a third of adults are actually eating five a day.
Interestingly, in other countries the targets are different, in Denmark for example the target is 6 a day, Canada 5 – 10, USA 5 -13 and with Australia and Japan they break down the amount of vegetables and fruit with the emphasis on more vegetables. So for Australia the target is 7 (5 vegetables and 2 fruit) and Japan 17 (13 vegetables and 4 fruit).
Marilyn’s Top Tips
We should actually be eating more vegetables than fruit. Vegetables give you the most benefits for your health but it is often easier just to pick up a piece of fruit. Buy organic if you can and then only scrub the skins, don’t peel them as you’ll lose valuable nutrients which are close to the skin. Enjoy a wide variety of vegetables but remember that potatoes do not count as one of your five a day, as they are classed as a starch so will be high GI (Glycaemic Index). We used to be told to ‘eat our greens’ but it is better to ‘eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables’ because different antioxidants are found in differently coloured foods. For example, green leafy vegetables, berries, carrots, beetroot and so on all contain different antioxidants.’
