Science Questions

It's recommended that we eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. So I'd like to know, if I liquidise all of my portions into one, and drink the whole lot would that still count as my five portions and get me off the hook? Gavin via Email

I wouldn't suggest drinking them all at once but I think that over the period of a day you would get the same benefit. I think what's important about the five fruit and vegetables a day is not necessarily only the fibre, but also all the nutrients that are in these foods. These nutrients help reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer. And that's what much more important than the fibre. Eating a high fibre breakfast cereal, doesn't reduce colon cancer. Studies have shown that. It's the nutrients in people's diets that are high in fibre that are more important.

January 2007