A survey carried out by Opinion Matters last month for British Summer Fruits has highlighted the fact that Brits are still not eating enough fruit and veg and many are ignorant about their benefits.
Out of the 1,983 participants who took part in the research, 13% didn’t believe that sugar, processed foods or saturated fats are bad for their health and one in ten didn’t think there are any health benefits to eating fresh fruit.
One in ten of the respondents aged 16-24 said they didn’t eat the recommended five a day and 50% didn’t realize that fresh fruit is an important source of vitamin C.
“The younger people are, the less they seem to know about eating healthily, and the less fresh fruit they eat,” said Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits. “If they don’t become better educated on eating healthily there is a danger they’ll pass on this lack of knowledge and poor eating habits to their children.”
Only 17% of those surveyed said they managed to consume five portions of fruit and veg every day, 13% said they ate the recommended daily amount once a week, 4% once a month, while 11% said they didn’t ever manage to consumer their five-a-day.
The survey also found that only 66% of respondents recognized fruits as a source of vitamin C, while 7% of respondents didn’t think eating fruits provided any health benefits at all. Among the 16-34 age group, one in ten said they didn’t think fresh fruit was good for them.
In addition, 42% didn’t believe that, to live more healthily, they needed to reduce their sugar intake and 56% thought they needed to reduce the amount of processed food they consumed.
“Eating five daily servings of fruit and vegetables brings real health benefits, helping to prevent heart disease and some cancers. But this survey suggests that many of us are not paying attention to this healthy eating advice,” added Olins.
To help address this issue, British Summer Fruits has launched the Eat Smart campaign to encourage people to cook from scratch and use fresh, natural ingredients.
