Variety is the spice of life
I have a question for you: if you could list the fruit and veg you eat regularly, so every week, how long would that list be?
For many people, this list is really short and under a dozen different fruit and veggies eaten regularly. Perhaps it includes potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, apples, bananas, cucumber, courgette …
‘So what?’ You might say. ‘If I am getting my daily portions then that is good enough isn’t it?’ (Government guidance is for at least 5 portions a day, but I would argue for more!)
Well in this post I would like to make the case for not only increasing the quantity of fruit and veg in your diet, but also the variety.
Studies looking at the quantity of fruit and veg consumed have found that the more fruit/veg a population eats, the healthier they tend to be. But on top of this, studies have now also looked at the effect of variety on health, and the results show that greater variety is also correlated with better health outcomes. For example a study in 2010 demonstrated that increased variety of fruit an veg correlated with a decrease in risk of lung cancer in smokers (1), vegetable variety and amount have been shown to be correlated with decreased coronary heart disease (2) and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes (3). These are just three studies, but there are more and it all boils down to the same message, eating more and a wider variety of fruit and veggies increases our wellbeing and decreases risk of disease.
So why might increasing fruit and veg intake as well as variety have such positive effects?
Fruit and vegetables contain many essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and also phytonutrients. Many people are familiar with the importance of vitamins and minerals; your body needs these in order to carry out essential processes. You can find a wide range of vitamins and minerals in fruit and veg, such as vitamins A, C and E and the minerals magnesium and zinc. Green leafy veggies in particular are a great source of vitamin B9 (folic acid) which is very important in early pregnancy and for energy levels.
Phytonutrients on the other hand are a less well defined group of natural chemicals found in foods that are not essential for keeping you alive like vitamins and minerals are, but they help promote health. For example, lycopene is a phytonutrient found in tomatoes (it is actually responsible for the red colour) and has been shown to be protective against prostate cancer (4) and resveratrol (rich in grapes) is anti-inflammatory (5).
In the same way the colour, taste and smell of fruits and veggies differs, so does their nutrient make-up. By eating a wide variety (and larger quantity) you are making sure you get all the many different vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that help your body run smoothly.
Fruit and veggies are also a great source of fibre. Fibre helps keep your digestive system running smoothly; bulking up stool fibre can help relieve both constipation and diarrhoea.
Fibre also keeps your good gut bacteria well fed and happy, and these bacteria in turn have wide-ranging health benefits from increasing availability of nutrients from your food, to regulating your immune health and even your mood.
Fibre is also great at helping regulate blood sugar levels, as it slows down the absorption of sugars into your blood stream evening out sudden sugar spikes. There is also the argument that eating many fibre rich foods helps you feel more full, and therefore less likely to indulge quite so much in unhealthy food choices.
And if you think all of that doesn’t make fibre an absolute star, increasing fibre in your diet has also has been shown to reduce bad cholesterol, decrease blood pressure and help with healthy weight maintenance!
So, increasing quantity and variety of fruit and veg is a brilliant way to enhance your health and vitality! Watch out for my next post on practical tips to increase your fruit and veg intake.
Fabia x
Büchner F. L. et al. (2010). Variety in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and the Risk of Lung Cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev., 19 (9) 2278-2286.
Conrad, Z., Raatz, S. & Jahns, L. (2018).Greater vegetable variety and amount are associated with lower prevalence of coronary heart disease: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2014. Nutr J 17, 67
Cooper, A. J. et al. (2012). A Prospective Study of the Association Between Quantity and Variety of Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Incident Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care, 35 (6) 1293-1300.
Rowles, J., Ranard, K., Smith, J. et al. Increased dietary and circulating lycopene are associated with reduced prostate cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 20, 361–377 (2017).
Das S, Das DK. Anti-inflammatory responses of resveratrol. Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets. 2007 Sep;6(3):168-73.
