Vegetable consumption has been stuck at barely half the recommended amount, despite for years the government has been urging Americans to eat more vegetables for better health. However, there has been little to show for the effort.
Less than 5 percent of Americans younger than 50 are getting the recommended amount of vegetables, and only 10 to 25 percent of older adults achieve this goal, according to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a panel of experts that helps set federal nutrition policy.
Two long-running Harvard studies reveal people who ate at least five servings of produce a day had about 30 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who ate less than one and a half servings. Federal trials have also found significant reductions in blood pressure and LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol. And some vegetables may help to protect against cancers of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, stomach and cervix, according to a science review by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research.
Now it appears private industry is working to accomplish what the government has been unable to do.
Making Vegetables Cute — This is the food industry’s effort to make vegetables more attractive and less threatening, which started with baby carrots and moved on to baby greens.
Convenient —Vegetable growers are making their produce easier to cook with by doing the prep work themselves: washing, trimming and combining varieties in the same package.
Compelling — Wegmans, a family-owned grocer in the Mid-Atlantic region, is pioneering other enticements to draw shoppers to its sprawling produce sections. Its 84 stores have farmer meet-and-greets, cooking demonstrations and counters where workers prepare fresh vegetable mixes for stir-fries and other produce-heavy meals that can be made at home.