Most of us grew up hearing that we’d get enough fruit and veg into our diet if we stuck by the “five a day” rule.
But I, for one, had no idea that that suggestion is just a catchier version of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guidelines, which go by weight rather than number of plants.
We’re meant to eat at least 400g of fruit and vegetables daily, the WHO says (a tall order, perhaps, given 70% of us don’t eat five fruits and veggies a day to begin with).
So maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to read that aUniversity College London (UCL) study found that those who saw a 42% lower risk of mortality from their diet were eating more than five fruits and vegetables a day.
How many fruits and vegetables should we aim to eat to reduce mortality?
The researchers found that the best results came from people who ate seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
That’s not to say that eating any less didn’t help at all, though ― one to three portions a day was linked to a 14% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who ate none.
That rose to 29% for three to five portions, 36% for five to seven portions, and (of course) 42% for seven or more.
That’s after researchers accounted for other factors that might affect the results, like smoking, BMI, education, class, age, and gender.
Vegetables seemed to have more of a protective effect than fruit, with each portion per day reducing the risk of death from any cause by 16%.
There was no significant health benefit seen by drinking fruit juice, though.
The NHS only counts fruit juice or smoothies as one of your five a day no matter how much you drink ― if you have three glasses of orange juice a day, they say, you’ll still only have ticked one portion off your list.
So… should we still call it five a day?
In a comment published in the same journal as the paper, the researchers suggest changing the five-a-day messaging to include even more produce.
Indeed Australia already had a two fruit and five veg campaign until 2012.
But speaking to UCL, the paper’s lead author, Dr Oyinlola Oyebode, said that “people shouldn’t feel daunted by a big target like seven.”
They public health professional added: “Whatever your starting point, it is always worth eating more fruit and vegetables. In our study even those eating one to three portions had a significantly lower risk than those eating less than one.”
