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Wednesday 7 April 2010

Don't eat fruit and vegetables!

This is the latest article on the back of a study which needs some attention, otherwise you might think you have been mislead over the years. I'm going to throw some figures at you so hold on!

The article was based on a study of 500,000 people that showed eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables (which is 400g) a day didn't have much effect on reducing cancer risk. However, if you read between the lines, you start to see holes in the article. It went on to say that the results showed that eating 200g more of fruits and vegetables had very little effect. This equates to 2 bananas. So correct me if I am wrong, we are comparing the difference between those who ate 5 portions and those who ate 3 ( subtract 2 bananas from the 5 portions)? It then ended by saying this contradicted a study back in 1997 which said that there was convincing evidence which states the opposite of the recent findings. I checked out the study and it uses the word 'sufficient' when quantifying the amount of fruit and vegetables needed to protect against cancer. 2 more bananas is hardly a 'sufficient' amount.

Firstly, those who are in my enlightened circle (that means you) should know by now that 5 a day is too low for the busy lives we lead and the different forms of stress our body can encounter. I would like to see a study done on people eating 10 a day rather than 5 or 3... Secondly, we don't know what kind of people this study was used on. The average person is undernourished and over-stressed. In my opinion, this isn't a good starting point for any study. Thirdly, the article claims that the study in 1997 claimed that eating large amounts of fruits and vegetables provided the protection against cancers. 2 bananas is hardly a large amount. I can't find the amount of fruits and vegetables which the original study used. The writer seems to be guesstimating the amounts.

The final most important point is that the latest study in the group eating 200g more of fruits and vegetables, saw a reduction in cancers of 3%. Considering this equates to 204384000 people, wouldn't you want to be one of them?

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