Health Education, Multimedia Development & Graphic Design
The USDA provides a free Interactive Healthy Eating Index that helps users track their daily food intake. The index includes a list of ethnic and vegetarian foods to help ensure that everyone can use it. The Healthy Eating Index will help you measure how well your diet compares with the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Guide Pyramid.
Ever since the USDA published their first dietary recommendations in 1916, Americans have been told they need to eat more fruits and vegetables (1). While the exact number of recommended servings has changed slightly over the years, the message has not. And for good reason! A diet high in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity (1). In the late 1980s, scientists began to realize that Americans needed more encouragement to eat fruits and vegetables which led to the formation of the 5 A Day program. The 5 A Day program is a national program jointly sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBHF). The goal of the program is to encourage Americans to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables (combined) every day. The program has been active for over ten years and the results have been impressive. In the first five years alone the percentage of Americans who knew they should eat 5 or more servings a day increased from 8% to 20% (1). The 5 A Day program is the first public/private partnership to ever undertake educating a nation about a health topic. This model has been adopted by nations around the globe as well as other industries. Today, all partners of the 5 A Day program continue their efforts to help keep America’s healthy through research, education, and media events across the U.S.
Most of the research about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables has been done in the cancer arena. Fruits and vegetables can help lower the risk of developing almost all forms of cancer (1). And people who eat five or more servings of fruits or vegetables every day lower their risk for cancer by half compared to people who only eat 1 or 2 servings a day (1). Fruits and vegetables have also been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease such as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and atherosclerosis. More specifically eating fruits and vegetables has shown to reduce the risk of heart disease by 20% to 40% and eating vegetables can lower the risk for stroke even more (1). Recently, studies have shown that eating fruits and vegetables can help to prevent cataracts and diabetes as well (1).
Everyone should eat at least three servings of vegetables each day and two servings of fruit each day for a total of five servings of fruits and vegetables every day (2). A serving consists of one cup of raw leafy vegetables, 1/2 cup of other vegetables (cooked or raw), 3/4 cup of vegetable or fruit juice, one medium piece of fruit, and 1/2 cup chopped, cooked, or canned fruit (2). Many people don’t realize how many servings of fruits and vegetables they actually eat during a day. Serving sizes are usually smaller than people think, so try measuring out a serving now and again to see how much you are really eating. Remember to count fruits and vegetables that are in casseroles, sauces, and soups.
www.5aday.gov
The 5 a Day for Better Health Program is a program jointly sponsored by the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) and the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH). On this web site, one
will find information on how to add fruits and vegetable to your daily diet, recipes that
follow the 5 a Day Guidelines, and research findings related to 5 A Day.
www.5aday.com
The Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) is a nonprofit consumer education foundation
representing the fruit and vegetable industry. Here you will find recipes that qualify for
5 A Day, a 5 A Day section devoted to children, a list of 5 A Day programs, and more.
www.aboutproduce.com
About Produce is a site by the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and the Produce for Better
Health Foundation (PBHF). The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) is a not-for-profit trade
association serving over 2,500 members who market fresh fruits, vegetables, and floral products
worldwide. This web site contains a recipe search function where you can search recipe by
produce item, preparation time, or recipe type. Other information you will find on this web site
are reasons to start eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day, health tips, and
tips on buying, storing, and preparing all kinds of produce.
www.usda.gov
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is one of our nation’s agencies that
supports the production of agriculture and ensures that the food is safe to eat. The USDA
also publishes the Dietary Guidelines for America, including the food guide pyramid which
is on the web site. Additionally, an abundance of information on federal services and programs
related to food and nutrition can be found on this web site.
Footnotes
1. 5 A Day Program Evaluation Report. National Cancer Institute. 2000.
2. http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/DietGd.pdf
This page reviewed and updated October 13, 2004.
Health information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for diagnosing or treating a health problem. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, you should consult your health care provider.