The general public is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of diet for health. As a result of a greater quantity and quality of information available to the public, many have the desire to improve their diets. Fruits and vegetables have been shown to confer important health effects in humans and the current recommendation is to consume more fruits and vegetables. In particular, regular consumption of fruits and vegetables may protect against a number of Western lifestyle diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and obesity. However, some individuals do not like vegetables or fruit and are therefore put off making changes to their diets. Children are particularly prone to disliking vegetables, and while this is often seen as fussiness or difficult behaviour by adults, often the strong bitter tastes of certain vegetables are more potent to the younger and more sensitive taste bugs of children. Therefore a physiological rejection of many of the more bitter vegetables is a normal response in children and adolescents.
The reason that fruits and vegetables provide health benefits is not fully understood. However, it is likely that a number of reasons exist. The most important of these is likely the presence of particular phytochemicals in the plants. Studies have investigated whole plants and individual phytonutrients within plant tissues and shown many of the chemical groups synthesised by plants confer beneficial metabolic effects in animals and humans. One such group, the flavonoids, may confer protection against Western lifestyle disease, showing particular anti-cancer and anti-cardiovascular effects. However, there are other sources of flavonoids as well as fruits and vegetables. Therefore the benefits of flavonoids can be derived from other foods. In particular, tea, chocolate, coffee and red wine are excellent sources of flavonoids. Regular consumption of these foods may therefore provide the same health benefits as consumption of fruits and vegetables and should be considered equivalent.
Another reason that fruits and vegetables may be beneficial to the health is the effects they have on postprandial glycaemia. One theory suggests that Western lifestyle disease develop from aberrations to blood sugar control, which may be caused by chronic consumption of foods that raise blood sugar too quickly. In particular refined grains are associated with poor glycaemic control. Fruits and vegetables may prevent this because they often replace the problematic refined foods in the individual’s diet, and because of the fibre they contain. However, the beneficial glycaemic control provided by fruits and vegetables may also be provided by consumption of whole grain cereals and higher protein diets. Whole grains contain fibre which may slow the absorption of glucose to the blood, and increases in whole grain consumption may reduce the consumption of refined grains. In addition, protein also provides beneficial glycaemic effects due to its ability to reduce gastric emptying.
Fruits and vegetables therefore confer important health benefits, but these benefits can be obtained through consumption of alternative foods. This is interesting because it opens new options for those who do not particularly like fruits and vegetables. Certain traditional diets are beneficial to the health, but contain little in the way of plant foods. The traditional diets consumed by the Maasai and the Eskimos contain large amounts of red meat and fish, respectively, with little in the way of plant foods. Yet both groups of people are considered healthy and do not develop Western lifestyle diseases. This suggests that it is not the actual presence of fruits and vegetables that are beneficial, but the fact that they often replace foods that are the real cause of diseases such as refined grains, trans fats, hydrogenated fats, oxidised fats and refined fructose. The benefits of fruits and vegetables can probably be had from consumption of alternatives in combination with avoidance of these refined foods.
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