No veg, fruit 'could be fatal'
2009-05-05 13:02
Cape Town - Are you still looking for a good reason to eat more fruit and veggies? Well, how about this: the low intake of fruit and vegetables has been ranked as the 10th leading risk factor for death in South Africa.
According to the Medical Research Council (MRC) as many as 21 000 deaths each year can be directly attributed to the fact that South Africans do not reach the minimum 5-a-day servings of vegetables and fruit.
In fact, 80% of adults 15 years and older eat on average just under three servings a day.
"This is really tragic," said Jane Badham, dietician and CEO of the 5-a-Day For Better Health Trust, a non-profit organisation which aims to increase the consumption of vegetables and fruit in SA to at least five servings per day.
"We are blessed with an abundant variety of fruit and vegetables all year round. With just a little effort and without having to spend huge amounts of money, each and every South African can make a positive health change in their life by including 5-a-Day," Badham told News24.
Malnutrition
"However, we live in a country where the double burden of malnutrition lives side by side.
"Two out of 3 children are deficient in vital vitamin A and 1 in 3 men and 1 in 4 women will suffer from heart disease before the age of 60," she continued.
"The reality is that in a single South African home one could find the child with micronutrient malnutrition who has an obese mother and a missing father that has already died from a heart attack or stroke!"
According to Badham eating plenty of veggies and fruit is the one health message that science has positively linked to the prevention of many diseases from micronutrient deficiencies to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
"And each day science is uncovering even more benefits from nature's rainbow colours of vegetables and fruit."
Heart disease, stroke and some cancers
Worldwide, the daily increased consumption of vegetables and fruit it is estimated, might save 2.7million lives a year - it could reduce the burden of heart disease by 31%, stroke by 19% and some cancers by between 12% and 20%.
Key in the role of vegetables and fruit and health is the antioxidant effect that they exert and how they neutralise excess free radicals commonly generated by radiation, pollution, tobacco smoke and a high-fat diet - ending a potentially cell damaging chain reaction within the body.
Badham urged South Africans always to place new scientific reports regarding nutrition in context, in order to avoid harmful misinformation.
She referred specifically to a recent study by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (Epic) that has found that smokers may increase their chances of contracting colon cancer by eating fruit and vegetables.
Colon cancer
The research project questioned some 500 000 people in 10 European countries about their eating and smoking habits and studied them for eight-and-a-half years, the AFP news agency reported in April.
"The results of the excellent Epic study need to be placed into context and the overall message clearly spelt out if harmful misinformation is to be avoided," Badham urged.
According to Badham the Epic study is an epidemiological study, which means that it gives an indication of association between a specific health effect and its possible cause, but that it does not provide convincing evidence to make policy and give recommendations.
"For this level of certainty, well-designed peer reviewed intervention trials are required," she explained.
"These results published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition allow us to make a number of observations and comments and may well point us in a specific direction for further research into the vegetable and fruit and cancer link," she continued.
'Stop smoking'
However, according to Badham the study just strengthens the fact that smoking is harmful to health - and not that vegetables and fruit should not be consumed by smokers.
"The strong message is, it would seem, that the well recognised protective effects of vegetables and fruit are overwhelmed by the negative health effects of smoking.
"The results do not mean that smokers are not protected by the vegetables and fruit that they eat, but rather that the negative effects of smoking outweigh the benefits of eating plenty of vegetables and fruit," she explained.
A spokesperson for the Epic study confirmed these thoughts in an earlier news report.
"This does not mean that smokers should stop eating their greens," Hans Verhagen told the AFP news agency.
"On the contrary, the conclusion is to: 'Please stop smoking'," he said.
"It is another and urgent call for smokers to give up smoking," said Badham, "and, it's another salient reminder to the rest of us, that eating at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruit each day - eating the 5-a-Day way - is vitally important to protecting our health and possibly preventing a number of serious diseases from micronutrient malnutrition to heart disease and cancer," she concluded.