Fact:
The
U.S. government has spent billions trying to find a
cure for heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.
Their
Conclusion:
Disease
is easier to prevent than it is to cure.
Their
Recommendation:
Eat
5-9 servings of fresh, raw fruits & vegetables every day.
The
Problem:
Almost
no one does.
"Increasing
the consumption of fruit and vegetables is a necessary part of the effort to
reduce the growing global burden of chronic diseases," says the World
Health Organization's Dr Derek Yach, Executive Director, Noncommunicable
Diseases & Mental Health.
Chronic diseases now contribute 60 per cent of deaths and 49 per cent of the
global disease burden. And already, 79 per cent of these diseases - which
include cardiovascular diseases, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancers and obesity -
are occurring in developing countries. This is largely a result of a few major
risk factors, including tobacco use and a significant change in diet habits and
increased physical inactivity. Such changes are taking place in the context of
increasing industrialization, urbanization, economic development and food market
globalization.
The World Health Report 2002, attributes at least 2.7 million deaths globally
per year to low fruit and vegetable intake. Evidence suggests that there is
insufficient consumption of these foods in most countries of the world. As well
as helping prevent chronic diseases, adequate fruit and vegetable intake also
improves nutritional deficiencies and increases resistance to infectious
diseases.
"The increasing burden of chronic diseases is one of the leading health
problems of our time, with significant implications for the future health and
prosperity of millions of people in both the developed, and increasingly, the
developing world," says WHO Director General, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland.
"The 5 A Day programme is playing an important role in working with the
private sector to encourage greater consumption of fruit and vegetables."
"We need to find ways to extend the 5 A Day concept globally, and
especially to tailor it to the conditions, cultures and distribution systems of
the developing world," says Dr Yach, who also leads the WHO's process for a
Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. "Boosting fruit and
vegetable consumption is a simple message with profound implications for global
food production and distribution systems.
