The 5 a day advice isn’t just a UK thing. There are similar government-backed 5 a day schemes around the world.
It all started with advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO recommended eating a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables a day to lower the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer.
What counts?
There’s actually a lot that counts towards your 5 a day. Fresh fruit and veg, obviously. Tinned, frozen and dried fruit and veg. And tinned beans and pulses.
Each portion should be different. So eating five tins of baked beans doesn’t count. For beans and pulses, a portion size is 3 heaped tablespoons.
What do other governments suggest?
The advice from different countries is quite interesting. 5 a day or around 400g is commonly suggested, but some countries take a different approach.
Germany 650g 400g vegetables and 250g fruit.
Denmark recommended 6 portions with a focus on choosing high-fibre vegetables such as peas, cabbage and root vegetables, dark green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and kale as well as red and orange vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes and red peppers. Italy mention colour in their advice too and recommend getting a range of colour variety.
Lithuania, Iceland and Luxembourg recommended including fruit and/or veggies in every meal as well as snacking.
Iceland also opt for promoting variety and fiber rich sources such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, root veg, onions, beans and lentils, as well as water rich species such as tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber.
Quite a few countries agree with variety being important. As well as more veg than fruit. Not all countries think juices should be included.
All in all. They all agree that more is better. All the recommendations are minimum guidelines.
How much are you getting?
As well as the vital vitamins and nutrients provided by fruit and veg, there’s also food for your good gut bacteria. Plus some clever and helpful chemicals such as polyphenols which help keep your gut bacteria in balance.
Treat your tum
In the March box of goodies we’re sending out some fantastic food for you and your tum. Kimchi hot sauce for example. Delicious. And, in the magazine, you’ll learn about easy ways to grow your own prebiotics at home. Plus info on those polyphenols mentioned above.
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