New campaign encourages adults to eat more fruit and vegetables

21/4/02
Health Minister Bob Kucera cooked up a healthy feast today - proving to Western Australians just how easy it is to include more fruit and vegetables in their diets.
Launching the new Go for 2 and 5 campaign, Mr Kucera said that two out of three Western Australians wrongly believed they ate enough fruit and vegetables.
On average, WA adults only eat 2.6 serves of vegetables and 1.6 serves of fruit per day. The Department of Health recommends eating at least five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit.
"Research shows that most Western Australians believe they are eating enough vegetables," Mr Kucera said.
"The time and effort it takes to prepare vegetables are other reasons people give for not eating more."
The $530,000 State-wide Go for 2 and 5 campaign aims to encourage people to eat more vegetables and highlights how easy it is to add extra serves to meals.
Mr Kucera said that if people increased consumption of fruit and vegetables to at least the recommended levels, there would be substantial reductions in disease due to poor diet and related health care costs.
Research shows that people who have diets high in fruit and vegetables have substantially lower risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers, hypertension, type two diabetes and cataracts.
A wide variety of raw and cooked vegetables should be eaten every day, particularly dark-green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, orange/yellow vegetables like carrot, corn, pumpkin and red capsicum, and cruciferous varieties, including broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and cabbage.
The campaign - featuring three television commercials - will initially focus on vegetable consumption and target adults, who are the main food buyers and meal preparers.
The television campaign will be supported by outdoor, shopping centre and point-of-sale advertising, consumer information, recipe booklets and food demonstrations.
This phase of the campaign will run until the end of June.
Minister's office: 9213 7000