Can we trust foods that claim to provide one of our five-a-day?

Every ready meal has nutritional information on the packet.

The “5 a day” claim is general health advice and not covered by the regulations. Which? would only be in breach of the EU regulations (which have been around since 2006) if they published unauthorised claims in a commercial context, ie they were paid or rewarded for doing so.

Water claims covered here:-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2011/nov/18/1

What a potty world we live in! If putting a logo on a packet that effectively says “This conforms to the Which? idea of what counts towards the five-a-day fruit &veg advice” requires all this bureaucratic and legislative fancy dancing then we have lost the plot completely.

I have not seen any compelling evidence to support ‘five-a-day’ and because of the big differences between the nutritional and fibre content of different fruit and vegetables, there is probably limited scope to support the recommendation. I am not surprised that the US and UK recommendations are different.

Filling up on fruit & veg helps cut down the amount of meat and fish we eat. There is evidence that eating large amounts of meat (particularly red meat) is not good for us. Meat and fish are expensive, and producing them is wasteful of resources, never mind the ethical issues about meat production.

Although I would be happier if the NHS did more to help us understand the nutritional content of individual foods, I recognise that ‘five-a-day’ is a simple message that may do good and is unlikely to do harm. I would like to see an NHS campaign against food supplements, which are generally of little use, are a waste of money and can sometimes be harmful.

If I get a chance I’ll try and look it up but I believe the medical advice to HM Government was 7 a day but that they downgraded it to 5 becasue they considered 7 would be unrealistic, too demanding if you like.

I agree, Phil. The well known Eatwell Plate includes some junk food, not because it is beneficial but because it acknowledges that most of us will eat some junk. The US equivalent does not include the junk, making it an unrealistic goal – like many strict diets.

Though I don’t believe for a minute that ‘five-a-day’ has an accurate scientific basis, it is an easy way to get over the message that fruit and vegetables have an important role in our diet. The significance of the vitamins, minerals and fibre they contain greatly depends on what else you eat. If you eat a modest amount of meat, fish, potatoes and wholemeal bread or cereal, you are probably getting much of what you need in your diet.

A better message might be to eat two or three portions of fruit AND two or three portions of vegetables per day. Overdo the fruit and you could be consuming rather more sugar than is good for you. Hopefully we all know that drinking pints of Coca Cola will is likely to make you fat but the same applies to fruit juice. A little is good for you but in excess it’s not much better than Coke.

I believe that we are recommended to consume a MINIMUM of five portions of fruit & veg a day, so it’s not a problem if you have more, as long as you don’t overeat.

With ready meals it is easy to see what they contain. It is not difficult or time consuming to serve ready meals with vegetables or salad. Unfortunately, the fat and sugar content of ready meals is largely as a result of what people like to buy, and healthy options are not always shoppers’ top priority. Furthermore, some traditional home-made food can also be very high in salt, sugar and fat content.

Anyone with basic knowledge of nutrition will be able to produce better food than if they rely on ready meals, but that depends on motivation and time. There is no doubt that leading a stress-free life and getting plenty of exercise are good, but we don’t all manage that. Maybe the best way forward is to admit that ready meals, used in moderation, can be part of a healthy lifestyle (or the best we are realistically likely to achieve).

My big weakness is portion size. I will select ready meals after reading the pack carefully, add my own vegetables or salad and then read that I have just eaten the contents of a pack containing two servings. 🙂

Hi BenJie,

We haven’t considered putting together our own 5-a-day logo. From our point of view it is a little too specialist as a campaign and would involve a lot of resources to monitor and ensure manufacturers were using it correctly, resources which we unfortunately don’t have.

If another scheme were to appear that met the criteria we recommended to the Department of Health (the food had to contain one portion of fruit and veg, and to be used on foods that were low in sugar, fat and salt) then we would consider endorsing it in the same way that we have supported and endorsed traffic light labelling.

Of course we want it to be easier for people to eat a balanced diet and to consume fruit and vegetables. But we feel there is a danger in people thinking they can get all their portions from processed food, firstly as it’s not sending the correct healthy eating messages, and secondly because often processed foods are high in sugar, fat and/or salt.

I think we are getting hung up on the mantra of 5 a day. Most survived pretty well before these edicts were issued. My view is that a common sense balanced diet with fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products together with, if you like, quality ready meals and very limited processed food will keep most people heathy. A cook book and a slow cooker could help a lot of people who have missed out on learning from their parents. Just don’t live on processed and cheap junk food – you can’ be sure what its origins are.

We talk a lot about the problems of eating processed food but I wonder if this is any worse than the sausages, pies, processed meat, white bread and canned vegetables that many people used to eat. I wonder how many ate five-a-day fifty years ago. At least obesity was less of a problem in these days.

I think about fruit and veg when I do the shopping rather than on a daily basis. It’s easy for me because I’m single and I eat what I buy. Like Malcolm, I try to have a balanced diet but know enough to be aware that it does not matter if each meal or even each day is balanced, as long as overall my diet is reasonably balanced. Having said that, I think the five-a-day guideline is useful to provide us with an idea of how much fruit and veg we should be eating.