Fruits and vegetables, 5+ a day: are we getting the message across?

Fruit and vegetables have important health promoting properties. The 5+ a day programme aims to promote awareness of the need to eat more of these foods. This paper presents and discusses the results of two surveys designed to determine the success of the 5+ a day programme across New Zealand. Household surveys were carried out by a marketing research company in 1999 and 2000. The 1999 questionnaire focused on awareness and understanding of the 5+ a day campaign. The 2000 questionnaire focused on attitudes to health and on intakes of fruits and vegetables. Data were collected from households nationwide (1999 survey N = 200, 2000 survey N = 520). Spontaneous consumer awareness of messages promoting the need to eat more fruit and vegetables was high. Seventy-one percent of all respondents identified the 5 servings a day message from the 5+ a day logo regardless of whether they had seen it before. The meaning of the hand in the logo was less clear with only 2.5% identifying the 'serving size' element of the logo. Fruit and vegetable intakes of respondents were influenced by demographic factors: gender, ethnicity, education and occupation (all P < or = 0.05). Positive attitude towards the relationship between fruit, vegetables and health was influenced by similar factors and in turn affected fruit and vegetable intakes. The 5+ a day message is well recognised and understood. Portion size is less well understood. The 5+ a day message promotes positive attitudes towards healthy eating which are associated with healthier eating habits, but some groups within society may need further attention.