You’ve probably seen the media coverage of the recent government report that found that most Americans are still not eating the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables.

The researchers said that even though most people are aware that fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of many diseases, consumption is still a long way from reaching the government goals set in Healthy People 2010. Their research appears in a recent issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Only 32.6 percent of adults are eating fruit two or more times per day, and only 27.2 percent are eating vegetables three or more times a day,” said researcher Dr. Larry Cohen, an epidemic intelligence officer at the CDC. These findings fall far short of the national goal of getting 75 percent of the population to eat fruit two or more times a day and 50 percent to eat vegetables three or more times per day by 2010.

Most Americans are aware of the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, according to Cohen. “However, translating that awareness to actually doing it is lacking…..It could be due to lack of access, or that some people don’t like fruits and vegetables. There could also be cultural reasons,”

Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine says “The problem is compounded by price incentives and disincentives that encourage people to eat highly processed foods,” Katz said. “It may also be compounded by the popularity of low-carb diets that discourage people from eating fruit.”

I’m just wondering if the researchers counted french fries and ketchup as vegetables. If so, then this study is really bad news.

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