Rosalee Brown

A recent British study which followed 20,244 men and women, aged 45 to 79, had some interesting findings at 11 years follow up.

The participants had no known cardiovascular diseases or cancer at the beginning of the study in 1993-97; they were asked to fill out questionnaires about their health history, lifestyles weight and their blood levels of vitamin C were measured. During the course of the study almost 2,000 persons died. The death rate was four times lower among those who did not smoke, who exercised at least 30 minutes daily, drank alcohol moderately (between one and 14 drinks per week) and consumed at least five daily servings of fruits and vegetables based on their blood levels of vitamin C.

Variety is important

The plus in all of this according to Kay-Tee Khaw, the researcher whose study was published in the Public Library of Science online, is that with the four healthy behaviours combined, the impact on chronological age can be the addition of approximately 14 years!

Many persons find it a task to consume adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables; these findings are more reasons to make the effort. It's not just about the amount of fruits and vegetables in the diet, it's also about variety. The pigmentation in these foods and powerful phytonutrients are beneficial in keeping us healthy.

Variety also helps to prevent monotony and seeks to ensure continued consumption. The right choice of vegetables also encourages consumption as younger vegetables are less fibrous and are sweeter. Fruits should be properly stored from excess light and other elements which will prevent rapid deterioration that will not only destroy nutrients but affect palatability.

Care should be taken with fruits in ensuring that they are mature and ripened to characteristic levels to improve nutrient quality and palatability.

An additional difficulty which many people face, is that they will purchase the fruits and vegetables of excellent quality but a lot of them often become compost for their gardens as they cannot seem to successfully consume the volume recommended.

One guide to ensuring consumption is to purchase less staples, such as rice, flour and so on. Vegetables are bulky and high in water and some such as pumpkin, callaloo and carrots have a significant amount of carbohydrate and therefore can provide some of the satiety and carbohydrate necessary without causing deprivation.

Add fruits to cereals

Fruits can be added to salads and breakfast cereals; they can become a part of smoothies along with vegetables and before you know it you are having more than five servings. Dried fruits can be had as snacks instead of other options which may not offer health benefits. Remember a quarter cup dried fruits is equivalent to a half cup fresh fruits.

One serving of fruit is a medium one or the equivalent of a half cup pulp or juice. One serving of vegetable is half cup juice, cooked vegetables or one cup leafy vegetables. So you see, you can have your five servings in a breeze and the benefits are what we all strive for - improved health and longevity.

So, we have some added weapons to put in our arsenal against ill health this year - no smoking, exercise at least 30 minutes daily, moderate alcohol consumption and at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.