New Zealand Listener – March 02, 2018

LISTENER MARCH 10 2018

THIS LIFE

GETTY IMAGES

Hitting

the target

They may be healthy

choices, but pulses and

most beans do not count as

5+ a day vegetable servings.

Question:

In a recent episode of the TV series Eat Well for Less, the

dietitian made a healthy pan-fried pizza using chickpea

flour. She concluded with the claim that not only did it

taste good but the flour counted as one of the “5+ a Day”

vegetables and fruit. Surely any flour, such as rice, potato

or wheat, would do this?

Answer:

I

n both New Zealand and the UK, where

the BBC show Eat Well for Less is pro-

duced, the 5+ a Day health campaign

has been running for many years to

encourage people to eat at least five

daily servings of fruit and vegetables.

However, each country has a different

definition of “a serving of fruit or vegetable”.

Although both countries agree that chickpeas

are a legume, so therefore fall into the “beans and

pulses” food category, they don’t agree on whether

beans and pulses count as vegetables.

In the UK, one serving of beans and pulses

counts towards the daily serving target, whereas

in this country

legumes such as

chickpeas do not,

says Carmel Ireland,

from the 5+ a Day

Charitable Trust.

Making the cut here

are broad beans,

green beans, french

or flat beans, butter

beans and snake or

chinese beans.

In the UK, only one portion of

legumes can count towards the daily

target, no matter how many servings

of chickpeas, lentils or other beans

you have. This is because legumes,

although a good fibre source, contain

“fewer nutrients than other fruits and

vegetables”, notes the UK’s National

Health Service.

Similarly, in that country, one

150ml serving of fruit or vegeta-

ble juice or a smoothie can count

towards the daily target, as can a 30g

serving of dried fruit.

Here, though, both fruit juice

and dried fruit were dumped by

the Ministry of Health in the most

recent iteration of its Eating and

by Jennifer Bowden

NUTRITION