GBE kompakt

Fruit and vegetables are important sources of vitamins, mineral nutrients, dietary fibres and phytochemicals for the human organism. They usually have a high water content and contain relatively few calories per unit of volume. Together with the fibre they contain, this leads to a relatively good satiety effect, despite a comparatively low energy intake. Including a high proportion of such plant-based foods in one's daily diet can thus avoid an excessive intake of nutritionally less useful foods and in this way help optimize the energy and nutrient balance (DGE 2007). Based on many studies, a high level of fruit and vegetable consumption is regarded to be an important factor in the prevention of several chronic diseases (WHO, FAO 2003; WCRF, AICR 2007; Boeing et al. 2007). However, dietary recommendations based on corresponding studies have not been followed by the majority of the German population over the last decades (RKI 2002; Adolf et al. 1995). Various public health measures have therefore been in force for some time trying to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed by children, adolescents and adults. Probably one of the best known activities is the »5 am Tag« (5-a-day) campaign, which since 2000 has been encouraging the consumption of five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Since 2008, the IN FORM National Action Plan – »Germany's initiative for a healthy diet and more physical exercise« – has been trying to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in the country by measures of structural and behavioural prevention targeting daycare centres, schools, families and the workplace. Furthermore, EU-funded school fruit programmes – in which children receive one free portion of fruit or vegetables a day – have being running in seven German states since 2010 (BMELV 2011; IN FORM 2011; 5 am Tag e.V. 2010). Recent representative data can be used to determine the extent to which fruit and vegetable consumption has improved and whether further preventive measures are needed. This issue therefore describes results of the Robert Koch Institute's 2009 »German Health Update« (GEDA) study and the 2006 »Nutrition Study as KiGGS Module« (EsKiMo) on fruit and vegetable consumption. To sketch the background for the empirical data, we first provide some information on the evidence supporting a link between fruit and vegetable consumption and certain chronic diseases, summarize agricultural-statistical trends in the consumption of fruit and vegetables over the last years, and give an overview of age-specific dietary recommendations.