Guidelines Dietary - Eat For Health

2.2 Enjoy plenty of vegetables, including different types and colours,and legumes/beans, and enjoy fruit2.2.1 Setting the sceneGuideline 2There are many nutritional, societal, culinary and environmental reasons to ensure that vegetables, includinglegumes/beans, and fruit are a major component of Australian dietary patterns. These foods are nutrient dense,relatively low in energy (kilojoules) and are good sources of minerals and vitamins (such as magnesium, vitamin Cand folate), dietary fibre and a range of phytochemicals including carotenoids. Many of the sub-componentsof foods and their relationships have not been studied in detail, and it is expected that other sub-components –and their biological effects – are still to be discovered.The inclusion of a variety of vegetables, including legumes/beans, and fruit provides a diversity of colours, texturesand flavours, adding to the enjoyment of eating. Vegetables, including legumes/beans, and fruit should be eaten intheir whole food forms to maximise the impact on a range of health benefits. Fruit should mostly be eaten freshand raw because of the low fibre content of fruit juice and the high energy density and ‘stickiness’ (which mayhave implications for dental caries) of dried fruit. 9 Some vegetables are suitable to eat raw, while it is best to cookothers to make them more palatable and digestible. Dried legumes should be cooked. Some processed fruits andvegetables, such as those that are canned or frozen in natural juices, are nutritious alternatives as long as they areproduced without added salt, sugar (including concentrated fruit juice) or fat (in particular saturated fat).Different fruits and vegetables are rich in different nutrients. For example, green leafy and Brassica (or cruciferous)vegetables are generally high in folate, and starchy vegetables are a good source of complex carbohydrates.Legumes/beans provide a valuable and cost-efficient source of protein, iron, some essential fatty acids, solubleand insoluble dietary fibre and micronutrients for all Australians, but particularly for those consuming vegetarianor vegan meals. 9The health benefits of consuming diets high in vegetables, including legumes/beans, and fruit have been reportedfor decades and are consistently recognised in international dietary guidelines. 35,36,198,360 However fruit andvegetable access, affordability and availability may be difficult for some groups. Further discussion can be foundin Appendix A.2.2.2 The evidence for consuming ‘plenty of vegetables’The scientific evidence for the health benefits of consuming vegetables, including legumes/beans, has beenstrong for several decades and has generally continued to strengthen over recent years, particularly the evidencefor a protective effect against cardiovascular disease. 361 Recent research on vegetable intake and cancer hasfocused more on investigating the health effects of consuming different subgroups of vegetables on site-specificcancers than the effect of total vegetable intake. There is strengthened evidence of the beneficial effects of intakeof various non-starchy vegetables in reducing risk of some site-specific cancers. High dietary intakes of somestarchy vegetables may help explain the weaker association between total vegetable intake and many site-specificcancers. There is also greater clarity on the quantity of vegetables to produce beneficial health effects, plusincreasing evidence of a protective effect against a number of chronic diseases for consumption of vegetablesand fruit when considered together (see Appendix J).Although serve sizes of vegetables differed between studies considered in the Evidence Report, 33 the evidencestatements presented in Table 2.2 are based on the Australian standard serve size of 75g.36EAT FOR HEALTH – australian dietary guidelinesNational Health and Medical Research Council