One of your Five a day

I've become a bit obsessed with books and TV programmes about healthy living, food and exercise. This is partly to educate myself about what's happening to my mind and body, and also so that I can separate myth from fact when it comes to claims and hype.

I watched a program last week about the "5 a day" claims that many manufacturers use on their packaging. Now I'm a big advocate of getting my 5 a day getting all of mine from fresh fruit and veg, so imagine how horified I was to find out that chocolate biscuits and fruit bread could be labelled as a portion!

It appears that the government logo for 5 a day (shown here) is very restricted in its use - the food must contain at least the equivalent of 80g of fruit or veg from the prescribed list, and only limited amounts of fat, sugar and other calories, whilst there is no restriction on manufacturers making up their own logos and adding them to any food containing fruit or veg - and they can label anything from 1/2 a portion (i.e. 40g fruit or veg) and can disregard the sugar and fat content.

So a manufacturers' claim that something "contributes to your 5 a day" doesn't mean it's a whole portion, or even that it's good for you! Very much a case of buyer beware.

If you want to see the program, it was in the Dispatches series on C4, and you can find out more here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/myths-about-your-5-a-day-reporter-feature

Well done to Jane Moore for brining this to our attention.