Four hundred grams

About this video

In many homes there is always something green on the table: fresh herbs next to the bread, a salad, a bowl of fruit after dinner. Grandparents everywhere say "eat your vegetables". How much is enough?

The World Health Organization says everyone older than 10 should eat at least 400 g of fruit and vegetables a day. Fresh, frozen and canned all count, as long as no sugar or much salt has been added. The NHS turns this into an easy rule, five a day: five portions of about 80 g. A few things count differently. Potatoes, yams and cassava don't count, since they are starchy foods like rice and bread. Pulses (lentils, chickpeas, beans) count, but only once a day. Fruit juice counts once at most, 150 ml a day in total. Dried fruit counts, but a portion is smaller: 30 g, for example a few dates.

Fibre is the part of plant foods the body can't digest. It passes through the gut and helps keep it working well, and eating enough helps prevent constipation. WHO says everyone older than 10 should get at least 25 g a day, from foods that have it naturally; the UK advises 30 g for adults, while most adults there eat only about 20 g. Fibre comes only from plants: whole grains such as brown rice, whole-wheat bread, oats and bulgur; pulses; vegetables, nuts and seeds; and fruit eaten with its skin.

A large review made for WHO in 2019 put together many studies that followed people for years. People who ate the most fibre had about 15 to 30 per cent less heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer than people who ate the least. These studies watched what people did rather than making one group eat more fibre, so fibre is linked to better health, which isn't quite proof that it causes it. Even so, health agencies agree that more fibre from whole foods is a good idea. This video explains fruit, vegetables and fibre, from the lesson Plants on Your Plate on Knaph.

Transcript

1. 0:00Herbs, salad, a bowl of fruit. Eat your vegetables, they say. But how much?
2. 0:06The World Health Organization says at least four hundred grams a day. That's five portions of about eighty grams, five a day. Fresh, frozen and canned all count.
3. 0:20Some count differently. Potatoes don't count at all. Pulses and fruit juice count only once a day. And a portion of dried fruit is just thirty grams.
4. 0:35Fibre is the part of plants the body can't digest. It keeps the gut working. Most UK adults eat about twenty grams a day. WHO says at least twenty-five, the UK thirty.
5. 0:53Whole grains, pulses, vegetables, nuts and seeds, fruit with its skin. Fibre comes only from plants.
6. 1:03People who ate the most fibre had about fifteen to thirty per cent less heart disease, stroke, diabetes and bowel cancer. These studies watched people, so it's a link, not proof. Still, agencies agree more fibre is a good idea.
7. 1:21Four hundred grams of plants, and fibre from whole foods.