U.S. Doesn't Grow, Import Enough Fruit, Veggies Veggies

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/05/us_doesnt_grow_import_enough_f.html

U.S. Doesn't Grow, Import Enough Fruit, Veggies
Veggies

6:20 pm

May 19, 2010

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The U.S. doesn't grow or import enough food or vegetables to meet Americans' daily requirements.

Don't be fooled by the huge piles of produce. Researchers found the U.S. doesn't produce or import enough fruit and vegetables to meet the daily needs of all Americans. (April L. Brown / AP Photo)

By Frank James

Visit the typical large American supermarket's produce aisle and it's easy to get the impression from extrapolating from all those fruits and vegetables that there's easily enough of those foods across the U.S. to satisfy the daily requirements for health and nutrition.

But that impression would be wrong. In a somewhat astonishing finding (to me at least) National Cancer Institute researchers on Wednesday said the U.S. only produces or imports half of what's required.

In a less surprising finding, the researchers found that Americans significantly overestimated the amount of exercise they get.

An excerpt from a Reuters report:

"If everyone wanted to eat healthily, there would not be enough," Susan Krebs-Smith of the cancer institute told reporters.

Many studies have shown that people who keep a healthy weight, exercise regularly and eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables have a lower risk not only of cancer, but heart disease, diabetes and even Alzheimer's.

The administration of President Barack Obama is looking at ways to help Americans eat a healthier diet and exercise more to reduce obesity.

Krebs-Smith and colleagues knew Americans do not come even close to meeting those goals. They checked to see if the U.S. food supply could provide the recommended five servings a day of fresh fruit and vegetables to every American.

It cannot, Krebs-Smith told reporters.

"The fruit in the food supply is about half what it needs to be, but we have plenty of calories from fat and added sugars," she said.

The NCI team worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to calculate how much food the United States produces, imports and gets to retail outlets.