Doctors, dietitians and health departments regularly tell you to eat at least five-a-day fruit and veg servings for your health’s sake. They say it will help you lose weight, prevent heart disease and reduce your risk of cancer. They are experts, so they must be right? Wrong, on all counts, says top British nutrition and obesity specialist and author Zoë Harcombe. It’s one of 12 top diet myths she dispels in Biznews. She says the five-a-day recommendation (in some countries it’s an astonishing 17-a-day) has no science to back it up. She’s not saying don’t eat any fruit and veg at all, just don’t expect much in the way of health benefits, and certainly no health miracles.
Harcombe is one of the speakers at a gathering of the world’s top low-carb, high-fat experts, the Old Mutual Health Convention taking place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre from February 19 to 22. In the video below, she does a brilliant demolition job of the 5-a-day recommendation. MS
