Britons Failing to Meet Fruit and Vegetable RDAs: Diabetes UK

14 Jun 2017 --- A survey commissioned by Diabetes UK has found that 66 percent of adults eat three or fewer portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day – well below the recommended five portions - and 46 percent won’t eat any fruit at least three days a week. Additionally, the survey found that the majority of people don't know what constitutes a recommended portion of vegetables or fruit.

Diabetes UK has described the results of the survey as “a huge cause for concern,” as a healthy, balanced diet is important for everyone, including people living with diabetes. Diabetes can affect anyone – the survey highlighted that most of us (59 percent) now know someone with the condition. Yet most people would ignore four out of six symptoms of diabetes (thrush, fatigue, increased urination and extreme thirst).

“These survey results are a huge cause for concern when you recognize the fact that in the UK, 3.6 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes and 11.9 million people are at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes,” says Emma Elvin, Clinical Advisor for Diabetes UK.

“A healthy lifestyle can also massively reduce your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. We know that obesity is one of the biggest risk factors for Type 2 diabetes, with two in three people in the UK being overweight or obese, but three in five cases of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by maintaining a healthy weight, eating well and being active.” 

The research also revealed:

• Two-thirds of people don’t know that baked beans could contain up to 5 teaspoons of sugar
• Two-thirds of people have no idea how much sugar is in ketchup or salad cream 
• Nearly six in ten people (58 percent) wanted to eat more vegetables but 23 percent thought they were too expensive, 16 percent said they tend to go off, nine percent said they took too long to prepare and five percent said they were too messy to eat

In related news, a study reviewing a number of previously proposed methods for increasing the number of vegetables children eat, has put forward that parents should not give up on encouraging their children to eat their greens. The most successful method of increasing fruit and veg intake involved making greens a daily part of a youngster’s meal – and continuing to offer the herbivorous additions each day even if they are not accepted at first.

Dr. Emma Haycraft, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Loughborough, explains that “repeatedly offering” the unwanted food over a period, which could be weeks or even months depending on the child’s resistance, was the most effective way of encouraging vegetable consumption.

“Gentle encouragement to try a disliked food is important for helping children to learn to like new tastes,” Haycraft says. “We know that children’s fussy eating peaks around two years of age. And it seems that younger children may be more amenable to change their behavior before habits become too deeply ingrained.”

The other recommendations included offering “non-food” rewards to youngsters who overcame their aversion and ate their greens, and for parents to eat the same meal as their children.

Dr. Clare Holley, Lecturer in Psychology at Loughborough University, whose Ph.D. study recruited families to test the differing approaches, said: “Eating the same meals has the added bonus of making parents’ diets healthier too.

“My study used 135 families from Leicestershire who were asked to offer their child a raw vegetable which the child didn’t like every day at snack time for two weeks.”

“Offering a piece of a disliked vegetable to children daily for two weeks and giving them a sticker, or another reward, in exchange for trying the vegetable helps them to like and eat the vegetable,” Holley says, adding that “parents modeling how much they like the vegetable also appears to help children to be more willing try them.”

All of the recommendations are explained in an academic paper, “A Systematic Review of Methods for Increasing Vegetable Consumption in Early Childhood,” published in the journal Current Nutrition Reports, last month.