5 a day how much

This increases the risk of tooth decay, so it's best to drink fruit juice or smoothies at mealtimes. Whole fruits are less likely to cause tooth decay because the sugars are contained within the structure of the fruit. Watch out for drinks that say "juice drink" on the pack as they're unlikely to count towards your 5 A Day and can be high in sugar.

Fruit and vegetables contained in shop-bought ready-made foods can also count toward your 5 A Day. Always read the label. Some ready-made foods contain high levels of fat , salt and sugar, so only have them occasionally or in small amounts as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

In this video, a dietitian gives advice on exactly how much is 1 portion of fruit or vegetables. Page last reviewed: 18 September Next review due: 18 September Why 5 A Day? What counts? Fat: the facts Salt: the facts Sugar: the facts Top sources of added sugar What does calories look like? Red meat and the risk of bowel cancer What is a Mediterranean diet?

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All site Nutrition professionals Events Search. Searching for a specific nutrition professional? Try our advanced search. Section: Balanced diet 5 a day Go. Why is fruit and veg so important? Here are some key nutritional benefits: They're a fantastic source of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, potassium and folate.

They provide dietary fibre, helping to maintain a healthy digestive system and lower risk of bowel cancer. As part of a balanced diet, they can lower risk of stroke, heart disease and some cancers.

Here are some more suggestions on how to get your 5 a day in from the NHS. Nutritionist Shruti Gupta shares her tips for getting kids to love fruit and veg : Be a role model - eat more fruits and vegetables yourself. Add a fruit or vegetable as part of every meal or snack.

Dip carrot, cucumber, celery with hummus, salsa or yoghurt-based dips. Include one leafy green or yellow vegetable for vitamin A such as spinach, broccoli, squash, green or carrots each day. You could add them in pulao, stuffed chapati or pasta. Homemade soups are good for all ages. The mathematics of this last one do not bear examination, as the entire pack weighs g and contains 17 tomatoes, making three tomatoes only half the requisite 80g. Tesco even sells own-label pitted prunes that promise "half of one of your five a day".

Tomato puree advertises one of your five in just a teaspoon: tempting. Five-a-day labelling, in short, is all over the place. How should we label it? She went to the British Standards Institution to try to understand what a portion might be. Spoons change with fashion. But why are the differences between shops so great? Consider a shopper at an out-of-town retail park who wishes to buy some pineapple to satisfy one of her five a day. Next, she goes into Waitrose and finds that if she buys her chopped pineapple here, she need eat only eight chunks to have eaten a portion of fruit.

At Asda , she can buy a tiny slice of pineapple for 50p, weighing exactly 80g, and one of her five a day. At all these stores, a whole, fresh pineapple — the more economical purchase — carries no five-a-day marketing at all.

Not on the fruit — understandably — but not on the shelf either. Retailers use the five-a-day labelling more routinely on products with a higher profit margin — prepared fruits and salads, packaged vegetables and so on.

Loose fruits and vegetables — usually the cheapest option — are rarely labelled as one of your five a day, whether you shop at Iceland or Tesco. At Waitrose, the link between higher-cost products and the five-a-day labelling is even more apparent. The store's cheaper Essentials range contains almost no five-a-day labelling. Perhaps they price up the adjectives by the pound too.

Intriguingly, the only apples in the Essentials range that advertise five-a-day benefits are the pink lady apples. Well, they are pink ladies, and the pink lady is the poshest apple on the high street. Whether this is an accidental or subconscious anomaly on the part of Waitrose, it is impossible to know. Currently, however, the shopper with greater means can more consciously accrue their recommended daily intake of fruit and veg.

Labelling is about selling, not informing. Perhaps that is one reason why people on lower incomes consume fewer daily portions of fruit and vegetables. Research consistently shows that these consumers are harder to reach. And the supermarkets' labelling efforts seem more exuberant on products that cost a premium. At Pret a Manger, for instance, there is a clear invitation to up-purchase. Or pay an extra 54p and upgrade to three portions.

These distinctions may seem fine or petty but they matter because the five-a-day campaign has tapped into the trend for a smoothification of food. For years, fruit was celebrated as the ultimate convenience food, but now manufacturers seek to render fruit in supra-convenient forms. Children go to school with mutant fruit forms in their lunchboxes — fruit strings, fruit shapes, fruit chews — that are made from juice and puree concentrate.

Some have an alarming sugar content, yet they promise on the box to provide one of the five a day. Healthbars such as Nakd fit this category and promise to deliver one of your five a day, based on the quantity of freeze-dried date paste used.