Evidence strongly suggests that fruits and vegetables are protective of major disease. In particular large scale epidemiological studies show that high fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease and cancer. Plant foods may protect from cardiovascular disease because they are a rich in antioxidant chemicals. These may reduce the oxidative stress in the body, subsequently protecting the arteries from endothelial dysfunction caused by free radical damage. The anti-cancer effects of plant chemicals are well reported also and this protective effect in not attributable to a single mechanisms. In fact the various chemicals such as sulphur compounds in garlic and brassica vegetables, the limonene in citrus, the polyphenols in berries and the phytonutrients in herbs and spices may all have different mechanisms of action against the initiation, promotion and progression of cancer. Current recommendations are therefore to consume more plant foods to help reduce the risk of serious disease.
However, some fruits and vegetables can be expensive and this may prevent the purchase of such items by the poorest in society. This is problematic because studies show that such individuals are at the highest risk of both cancer and cardiovascular disease due to their low quality diets. In addition, the poorest in society may not consume such foods because poor nutritional education has made them unaware as to the benefits of regular fruit and vegetable consumption. The effects of reducing fruit and vegetable prices, and the effects of education about their benefits, have has been investigated with regard the amount of products purchased. In a 6 month randomised controlled trial regular supermarket customers were assigned to a group offered a 50 % discount on all fruit and vegetables, nutritional education as to the benefits of regular fruit and vegetable consumption, both a 50 % discount and nutritional education, or no intervention1. The purchases made my the shoppers were then assessed at the checkout using computers to collate the shopping.
The results of the study showed that a price discount caused a significant increase in the purchase of fruit and vegetables. The reduction in price cause an increase in fruit and vegetable purchase of 3.9 kg at the end of the 6 month trial. The addition of the nutritional counselling to the discount cause an increase of 5.6 kg for the amount of fruit and vegetables purchased by 6 months. Of course from this data there is no way of actually knowing if the fruit and vegetables purchased at the supermarket were consumed. However, it is unlikely that all the additional food was wasted, and so it should be assumed with good cause that the increase in the purchase of the fruit and vegetable also caused an increase in the consumption. In this regard the researchers did provide the subjects with a questionnaire to assess their estimate fruit and vegetable consumption. From this it was reported that the amount of individuals consuming the above recommended 400 grams per day of fruit and vegetables increased from 42.4 % at baseline to 61.3 % for both discount groups.
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