Is 5 a day good science?

[Banjo]

Dont know if any truth in it but i have been told by a health nurse to eat as many different colour fruits and veg as possible to benefit from a greater variety of minerals etc,

PS I must have missed the news about salt is now good for you again ? Anyone have a link.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Kiss goodbye to the guilt, 3BM. Butter is fine. You heard it here first!

No actual guilt regarding butter tc, in fact it's Jersey full-fat in today's MCS - and when I say fat!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

PS I must have missed the news about salt is now good for you again ? Anyone have a link.

Sod the link, just whack as much as you can on your deep-fried chips before they decide it's bad again!

 

[yello]

eat as many different colour fruits and veg as possible to benefit from a greater variety of minerals etc

Again, a decent enough rule of thumb.

That said, my 2 faves are probably kiwi and avocado, both green but pretty different nutritionally!

 

[siadwell]

Potatoes have little nutritional value other than carbs, they are starch heavy. They dont contrain the mineral and vitamins that other vegetables do.

Not according to the International Year of the Potato (2008 if you blinked and missed it) website:

Potatoes are rich in several micronutrients, especially vitamin C - eaten with its skin, a single mediumsized potato of 150 g provides nearly half the daily adult requirement (100 mg). The potato is a moderate source of iron, and its high vitamin C content promotes iron absorption. It is a good source of vitamins B1, B3 and B6 and minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, and contains folate, pantothenic acid and riboflavin. Potatoes also contain dietary antioxidants, which may play a part in preventing diseases related to ageing, and dietary fibre, which benefits health.

The reason that potatoes are excluded probably has to do with the impact the cooking method has on the nutritional content. Thinly slicing them and deep frying in oil tends to make them less virtuous than boiling them in their skins.

 

[Rob3rt]

Enlightening post! ^^

 

[lulubel]

The reason that potatoes are excluded probably has to do with the impact the cooking method has on the nutritional content. Thinly slicing them and deep frying in oil tends to make them less virtuous than boiling them in their skins.

Also, they are relatively calorie dense (compared to most other veg), so they might have been excluded for that reason. Encouraging an increasingly obese population to eat something calorie dense is probably seen as a bad idea.

 

[yello]

Also, they are relatively calorie dense (compared to most other veg), so they might have been excluded for that reason.

That's my take on it too. I personally avoid potatoes. Especially when they are thrown at me by farmers. Butchers, no, that's fair play, but not farmers.

 

[Davidc]

The salt thing - this was in my news feeds today.

As I have clinaically low blood pressure I'm not too bothered. Don't like the taste of salt anyway, and most processed and pre-prepared foods taste disgusting, in part because they're far too salty. Why for example is salt added to supermarket* "pressed whole tomato juice" so that it tastes like seawater? I'll just go on making my own in the liquidiser!

*Sainsburys and Morrisons versions, don't know about the rest.

 

[Dan B]

Eating 5 bananas a day would be better than eating no fruit and veg at all, but eating a variety of different fruit and veg means you are giving your body a better chance of getting all the vitamins it needs.

Would it not be better to actually tell people what these nutrients are, how much of them one needs, and in what foods they can be found, than to let them play a guessing game where the more different stuff they eat the greater the "chance" of them covering all the requirements? I mean, yes, "five a day" is a much more marketable message, but if the underlying reasoning was explained somewhere it would give the whole exercise much more credibility.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I'm guessing that the FIVE bit comes from the theory that 400g of fruit/veg is appropriate for daily intake and a portion is 80g. In the same way others measure carbs and/or protein.

Then again, this article says it was just a marketing ploy. Clickety click

 

[Mad at urage]

Marketing ploy? Quite possibly. How often are five different (commonly available) fruits actually in season together? How many are solely available as imports? Patently there is an element of greasing the wheels of capitalism here!

 

[theclaud]

Spuds are great. Especially jacket spuds with salty crispy skins and a big dollop of butter. Perfect food for cyclists, and pretty sensible for just about anyone else. If nutritionists tell us that we shouldn't eat them, or that they don't count as vegetables, they shouldn't be surprised when we conclude, rightly, that they haven't the faintest idea what they are talking about. The skins thing is a bit of a red herring, though. It's true that the skins are dense in various nutrients, but the skin is such a tiny proportion of the potato that it isn't that big a deal. There are times when it's a terrible mistake not to peel a potato, as those leathery things that often get passed of as "new" in bad pubs and restaurants attests.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Especially jacket spuds with salty crispy skins and a big dollop of butter.

That's my favourite spud recipe.

 

[lulubel]

Would it not be better to actually tell people what these nutrients are, how much of them one needs, and in what foods they can be found, than to let them play a guessing game where the more different stuff they eat the greater the "chance" of them covering all the requirements?

It would be better, except that people in general are usually much happier to be told what to do than asked to take in a lot of information and then make a decision based on it. Those of us who actually take the time to consider our bodies' nutritional needs and eat appropriately are very much in the minority.

For those of us who do want to know more than just the general advice, there's the internet.