Ignorance of Nutrition Among Youth

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http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/10884/the+5-a-day+fools/ THE 5-A-DAY FOOLS Children believe that crisps are part of their 5-a-day Friday June 22,2007 By Nadia Menuhin Have your say(1) YOUNGSTERS are so ignorant about nutritious food they think pasta is a vegetable and some snacks can count towards the Òfive-a-dayÓ healthy eating quota. Some include ketchup, potatoes and low-fat crisps as part of their daily intake of fruit and vegetables because they are healthier versions of what they normally eat.Yet many shun frozen peas, tinned tomatoes and fruit

smoothies because they are unaware that they are recommended by medical experts, according to a survey.The five-a-day quota of fruit and vegetables was designed to inform people how to eat healthily and and fight off an epidemic of obesity.But youngsters are often unaware of what should and should not count towards this daily total.According to the survey of 1,000 children aged eight to 15 by Dairy Farmers of Britain, one in 10 thinks tomato ketchup counts as a portion of daily fruit and veg but 18 per cent do not realise frozen peas are fine.And 12 per cent think pasta is a vegetable while six per cent include bread as part of the five-a- day regime. A third believe it is fine to count roast potatoes too.In Scotland one in 10 children think low-fat crisps should be included in the healthy quota while 17 per cent believe ketchup should also count as a portion. In the West Midlands, one in four count pasta.The survey reveals

that children brought up in cities are less knowledgeable than the offspring of country people. Four per cent of city children would not include an apple in one of the five portions, compared with two per cent of rural youngsters. SEARCH NEWS / SHOWBIZ for:

Dairy Farmers of Britain, a co-operative of 2,700 milk-producing farmers, has launched a campaign to educate children about where food comes from and how it is made to tackle the ignorance of children. Former surveys by the organisation discovered that children were not aware that yoghurt comes from milk, and originally from cows, or that beefburgers are from cows too and sausages can come from pigs.Spokesman Phil Gibson said: ÒIt is clear that children still need to be made aware of what constitutes a healthy diet. ÒAlthough it is encouraging that most children have heard of five-a-day, it is still worrying that many do not know what they should be eating to maintain a healthy future. ÒAs well as eating five-a-day, people should consider how dairy fits into a healthy diet, where their food comes from and how it is processed.Ó