Britain’s Top Doctor Says We Should Stop Telling People to Eat Their 'Five-a-Day’

Since time immemorial—or at least, ever since you opened your primary school packed lunch to find carrot sticks instead of the Kit Kat you pestered for—we've had it drilled into us to eat our five-a-day. The official fruit and vegetable consumption target has been part of official government diet guidelines since 2003 and is pushed by doctors, public health experts, and every mum ever as a way to ward off disease and ensure sufficient vitamin intake.

But if eating five portions of "nature's candy" every day is so good for you, why is one of Britain's highest ranking doctors recommending we stop telling people to do so?

Dr. Helen Stokes-Lampard became chair of the Royal College of GPs last week and in her first interview since taking the job, she stated that eating five pieces of fruit and veg everyday is not achievable for many people.

She told the Observer: "For people that have got a low income five-a-day is really, really hard. It's expensive to have five-a-day. I get my five-a-day, no problem, but for many people they can't afford that five-a-day."

Stokes-Lampard said that because fruits and vegetables are so expensive, the five-a-day target becomes unobtainable and so therefore demoralises those who can't afford to stick to it.

Indeed recent research has shown that eating a healthy diet can cost three times as much as surviving on junk food, thanks to price hikes that have seen the cost of tinned tomatoes and semi-skimmed milk rise more sharply than unhealthy items like frozen pizza and ice cream.

Stokes-Lampard added that the price of fruit and veg should be reduced to tackle this.

Not all healthcare professionals have agreed with the new chair's views on the five-a-day target. Lawrence Haddad of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition told The Independent that doctors shouldn't stop encouraging people to eat their five-a-day.

He said: "I am mindful of the demoralisation argument and I think there is some validity to that. But if you give up on the goal, you're kind of admitting defeat. I'm not convinced that [people] can't afford the five fruits and vegetables, I haven't seen solid evidence for that. There are lots of different fruits and vegetables out there and it doesn't mean your five fruits and vegetables have to be very expensive ones."

Fruit-packed vegan power juice, anyone?