5 Portions of Fruit & Vegetables - Good or Bad?

In April of this year I read a report in the Science Daily (Apr. 29, 2009) that research from the Changing Ageing Partnership (CAP) reveals that older people are not eating enough fruit and vegetables.

Whilst I am not admitting that I fit into this age category the report caught my attention.

Dr Katherine Appleton from the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast conducted the research on behalf of CAP and said: "Fruit and vegetables are vital for psychological as well as physical health. We found that fruit and vegetable consumption became lower with increasing age and that intake was particularly low in males and people living in more deprived areas".

Dr. Appleton also made the point that "older people should eat more fruit and vegetables. They are more likely to do this if they are aware of the five-a-day recommendations and associated health benefits. We recommend that more should be done to raise older people’s awareness of these issues and increase their exposure to products and dishes that contain fruit and vegetables".

Now today I read another report in the Science Daily (May 20, 2009) that eating more healthily might be better for us as individuals, but would it be bad news for farmers?

A research project funded by the UK Research Councils’ Rural Economy and Land Use Programme had found that if we all followed government advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day this could have serious implications for the countryside.

The interdisciplinary team, led by Bruce Traill, Professor of Agricultural and Food Economics, at the University of Reading, set out to examine how the UK could produce healthy foods that consumers wish to buy at prices they are willing to pay and to assess the impact on land use and the rural environment and economy.

Professor Bruce Traill said: “Undoubtedly the UK Government has a duty to promote the health of the population" ............“But we do also have to consider the potential unintended consequences of policies. For rural communities, such as the dairying industry of south west England and upland areas of the UK these could be far-reaching and need to be taken into account".

Consequences of the increase in the level of production suggested in the report include; increase in the amount of land under intensive market garden production with more polythene tunnels; increase pressure on water supplies because of the need to irrigate more crops; reduction in the number of small farms with them being absorbed into large land holdings; loss of employment in livestock farms in upland farming areas and supporting businesses.

Some may say the easy solution is to eat more vegetables and source the increase production levels from overseas growers. But won't this add to further problems of global warming and climate change, with the increase levels of CO2 due to the extra transport needed to bring the fruit and vegetables to us, and the destruction of the natural environment to provide more farming land in the third world countries where production would probably be. Aren't we told to try and source produce locally.

What a quandary!