What Exactly IS 5 Servings A Day Anyway?
Happy New Year! Presently, it is 1 degree Fahrenheit and trying hard to snow here. This is the day people wake and layer themselves in resolutions that end up unbuttoned and tossed aside as soon as the weather warms. Whether you are a “resolution” person or not, I thought I’d start this new year with something simple. In fact, if you are looking to change anything about your behavior, it’s best to start small with a change you can tackle easily on the daily.
So let’s start small, but with big effect!
The phrasing “5 servings of fruits and vegetables” has become a nutritional platitude. While I eat a large quantity of fruits and vegetables, it occurred to me that many of us don’t really know what exactly accounts for 5 servings of fruits and veggies. . . .
Does that mean 5 servings of fruits AND 5 servings of vegetables?
If I eat a cantaloupe, a potato, and 3 carrots, have I reached or exceeded my 5 servings?
For being imperative guidance, it’s pretty vague until you dig deeper. . . so let’s dig in!
Fruits & Veggies Guidance in the USDA Dietary Guidelines
The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for American’s, 2020-2025 provides serving recommendations for infants and toddlers, children and adolescents, adults, women who are pregnant or lactating, and older adults. For the purpose of this post, I will focus on recommendations for adults, but if you or a loved one falls into any of the other categories the Guidelines can provide ample information.
See the table below that better expresses the nutritional nuance accompanying the “5-a-day” guidance. Instead of focusing on number of servings, the USDA focuses on AMOUNTS (cups, etc) and those amounts are based on your overall calorie consumption! So a person eating about 1600 calories a day would need to eat about 2 cups of vegetables, whereas someone consuming 3,000 calories a day would need to eat about 4 cups of vegetables a day. The table below also gives weekly amounts of vegetables, because our diets adhere more to “patterns” than to daily exactitudes.
For those of you eating about 2,000 calories a day, do you eat 2-1/2 cups of vegetables a day on average? Based on the data below, you probably aren’t.
The USDA found that
“Almost 90 percent of the U.S. population does NOT (all caps added) meet the recommendation for vegetables. In addition, with few exceptions, the U.S. population does not meet intake recommendations for any of the vegetable subgroups.” (1)
Additionally, the USDA found that the few vegetables we are eating, are usually mixed into other less healthy foods.
“Most vegetables are consumed as part of mixed dishes like sandwiches, pasta with a tomato-based sauce, or casseroles that may have other ingredients that are sources of saturated fat and/or sodium.” (1)
Guidelines Simplified!
To make all this information easier to digest, the USDA came up with a simplified way to express dietary recommendations; it’s called My Plate. The My Plate Plan basically takes the guidance in the Dietary Guidelines and makes it more palatable for the busy, layperson. Unless you want to get really nerdy about nutrition guidance, I’d suggest checking out the My Plate website before delving into the 149-page Dietary Guidelines document.
The USDA “My Plate Plan” advises:
Make half your plate fruits or veggies
Focus on Whole Fruits
Vary Your Veggies
That is pretty easy to follow advice! The website has pages devoted to both vegetables and fruit.
Not sure what counts as one serving of vegetables or fruit? My Plate covers that too, as you can see from the graphics below.
Fruit & Vegetable Intake and Mortality
A well publicized study (“Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality: Results from 2 Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-analysis of 26 Cohort Studies”) in the journal Circulation from spring of 2021 found the following:
Eating about 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, specifically 2 daily servings of fruit and 3 daily servings of vegetables, was associated with the lowest mortality.
Consuming MORE than 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day was NOT associated with any additional benefits (this was what I found most interesting!)
High intake of most subgroups of fruits and veggies was associated with lower mortality, with the exception of starchy vegetables such as peas and corn.
Higher intakes of fruit juices and potatoes were not associated with decreased mortality - meaning, when you increase your fruits and vegetables, don’t think that fruit juices and mashed potatoes with have the beneficial effect of longevity.
Because this study was observational in nature, it cannot demonstrate or prove the cause-and-effect of fruit/vegetable intake and lower mortality. However, the study included a large sample size, high retention of participants, repeated assessments, and a long follow-up period of 3 decades. Additionally,
the “results were largely consistent with those from existing observational studies and randomized clinical trials on diet high in fruit and vegetables and major chronic diseases including CVD, diabetes, and cancer.” (2)
New Year, New Plate!
As we head into 2022, try filling your half your plate with whole fruits and veggies, and leave the starchy veggies for special occasions. Vary your veggies by picking up something new and strange from the produce aisle. Add veggies in where you can. . . a few extra slices of cucumber or tomato on your sandwich, a few handfuls of spinach in your mac and cheese, some extra peppers in your enchiladas. . . but most importantly, have fun and don’t stress!
Enjoy your New Year, I’m about to quick cook some collards to celebrate!
References:
(1) “Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025,” n.d., 164.
(2) “Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality.” Accessed January 1, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.048996.
Header Image Photo Credit, Elle Hughes