“Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables per day.” A broadly disseminated message, but far from having integrated into the eating habits of the French. According to a double study published on Tuesday, April 29 in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (Beh) in Public Health, 71% of the French know this recommendation. But only a quarter of women, and less than a fifth of men say they have fruits and vegetables in adequacy, with at least five portions of fruits and vegetables per day.
To obtain these results, the study authors were based on the results in 2021 of the public health barometer, made with more than 30,000 people, in France and abroad. They examined the gap between, on the one hand, the recommendations of the National Nutrition Health (PNNS) program, which has been pointing since 2001 to improve the health status of the entire population acting on food and, on the other hand, the declared food of the French.
Several food groups were studied: fruits and vegetables, full foods, legumes and sugary drinks.
Result: “In France in France, in 2021, 19.3% of men and 25.2% of women aged 18 to 85 declared a consumption of fruits in line with recommendations (at least five fruits and vegetables per day).”
In detail, the consumption of at least five fruits and vegetables per day is associated with being a woman, having a diploma level equal to the BAC and occupying a higher intellectual profession or an intermediate profession. According to the study, these disparities are a reflection of a superiority of “levels of general knowledge in the nutrition of women and most graduates.”
“We know that women have a higher social desirability bias with respect to food and health. Therefore, they are more likely to want to be good students,” Valérie Deschamps, an expert in nutrition in public health France and one of the authors of the study.
Less fruits and vegetables in young people
The membership of nutritional recommendations varies especially according to age. Only 17% of young people aged 18 to 24 say that they eat at least five fruits and vegetables per day, almost half of the 65-74 years, the age group “model” with 30.1% of good students.
The older we are, the more we tend to respect the recommendation and, above all, there is a rather marked social gradient, that is, the most polite people can respect it, summarize Valérie Deschamps
But these percentages are still weak and fall. The Environmental Health Study, Biosurveja, Physical Activity and Nutrition (Esteban) during the 2014-2016 period, cost the participation of men with 30.6% that meets the recommendation of five fruits and vegetables per day. Or a loss of 11 points, which the new study, conducted jointly by the Nutritional Surveillance and Epidemiology (ESEN), France Public Health and the University of Sorbonne Paris Nord, attributes to recent years, as well as differences in methodologies.
Despite these differences, the percentages of adaptation to the recommendations described, however, remain low in 2014-2016 as in 2021, consider the authors of the study.
They also remember that food is recognized “as one of the main risk factors, or protection, changing the most widespread chronic diseases in the industrialized world.” A study published in the prestigious review that Lancet estimated that in 2017, the food was responsible for around 1 in 5 worldwide and, therefore, represented one of the most important mortality factors.
The excess of salty products, the lack of entire cereals and fruits stood out particularly. Inappropriate consumption of fruits and vegetables is “linked to the appearance of cardiovascular diseases or certain cancers” recalls Valérie Deschamps.
“Every small step counts”
To improve the situation in France, the France Public Health Study suggests a change of focus: exit the only reference point “five fruits and vegetables per day”.
“We realized that the people who were very far from these recommendations were felt so far that efforts were zero to get there. Because it was very distant, that inaccessible,” explains Valérie Deschamps.
It recommends orienting itself instead of more flexible recommendations of the type of “each small step” to promote any increase in fruits and vegetables, “whatever their magnitude and the initial level of consumption.”
Source: BFM TV
