How much Fruit & Vege should I eat?

Ever heard of the popular saying 5+ a day? Well new research has been released on the benefits of eating 10 serves of fruit and veges every day!

Recent research by the Imperial College of London found incredible health results when you increase your intake of fruits and vegetables to 10 or more serves a day.

Benefits of 10+ a day

The study was an analysis of all worldwide research currently available, involving  2 million people.  The results reveal that eating up to 800g fruit and vegetables a day – or 10 servings – is associated with these incredible health improvements:

  • A 24% reduced risk of heart disease

  • A 33% reduced risk of stroke

  • A 28% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease

  • A 13% reduced risk of total cancer

  • A 31% reduction in premature death  

It estimates that approximately 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide could be potentially prevented every year if people ate 10 helpings, or 800 g, of fruit and vegetables a day.

How many serves do New Zealanders currently eat?

The Ministry of Health recommends that New Zealand adults eat at least three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit each day.

Sadly, many New Zealanders fall well short of this mark. The latest estimates from the 2015/2016 health survey indicate that:

  • Only 62% of adults eat the recommended three or more serves of vegetables a day

  • Only 55% meet the recommend two serves of fruit a day

  • When the two recommendations are put together, only 40% of New Zealand adults eat the recommended 5 + a day

What is a serving?

Vegetable serving sizes

  • ½ a cup of cooked vegetables (e.g. broccoli, carrot or watercress)

  • ½ a cup of salad or mixed vegetables

Fruit serving sizes

  • One medium apple, pear, banana or orange

  •  ½ a cup of fruit salad

Alternatively, one portion of fruit and vegetables is roughly about what fits into the palm of your hand. 

Source: New Zealand Heart Foundation and NZ Nutrition Foundation.