A leading medical expert in the UK has declared that the government should put an end to advice on eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, because it acts as a demoralizing barrier for those who are unable to afford fresh produce.
“It’s expensive to have five-a-day,” said Dr Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, in an interview with The Independent, adding that she feels the figure needs to be revised to avoid discouragement to the general public.
In an attempt to improve healthy eating and nutrition, the five-a-day drive was introduced in 2003 and several other countries have the same governmental advice. The concept (if not so much the behavior) caught on to such an extent that the phrase is now commonly used and understood.
However, the high cost of fresh fruit and vegetables, making it hard for families earning meager incomes to reach the 5-a-day goal, is seen as one reason why many people know about the advice but don’t follow it.
Great value found in donuts and pizza
Research conducted at Cambridge University, analyzing changing food prices between 2002 and 2012, found that a healthy diet can incur up to three times the cost of buying junk food.
The researchers added that the cost of healthy items such as canned tuna and cabbage had risen at a much sharper rate in contrast to items such as donuts and frozen pizza, which even saw prices go down in some cases.
This also chimes with findings a previous study in the United States, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, that found Americans are able to buy 1,000 calories of processed foods at 10 percent of the price of the calories in fresh produce.
Some, however, are insisting that the five-a-day guidance should be maintained.
“I am mindful of the demoralization argument and I think there is some validity to that. But if you give up on the goal, you’re kind of admitting defeat,” said Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.
“I’m not convinced that [people] can’t afford the five fruits and vegetables, I haven’t seen solid evidence for that,” he added. “There are lots of different fruits and vegetables out there and it doesn’t mean your five fruits and vegetables have to be very expensive ones.”
Haddad also called for supermarkets to increase the amount of oddly shaped vegetables sold, as they can be given reduced prices while still having the same nutritional value as ordinary produce – something the major chain Tesco began to roll out earlier this year.
Current statistics, released by Eurostat, suggest that only around a third of people in the UK actually have their recommended five-a-day.
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