"Seven a day"

To be honest NfkDumpling, I do not know, or care, but generally my portions of veg are quite large. That was what I ate on one day and does not constitute a planned eating programme of any kind. I just happen to love vegetables and I include a lot of them in my diet and it does show how you can eat the recommended amount while eating a fairly ordinary diet.

As I have said many times, the phrase that informs my eating is 'Eat well, not too much, most of it plants'. My reading of healthy eating reports never extends beyond the headlines. It was just I realised that on Wednesday I had actually fulfilled the guidelines without any intention. The following two days I had around 4 - 5 portions of fruit and veg.

yummy!

sorry, that was for thatbags

I like veggies but not much fruit. I feel healthy and all this dictating from on high will not affect my diet one jot.

I could live on fruit, if I had to, but would miss the green veg like broccoli.

Anno, you can have the green veg like broccoli. In fact you should have more of that and less fruit.

I always find it strange that people who say we do not take science seriously enough, in for example the energy debate, do not take the science of nutrition seriously, which after all, is just another facet of the energy debate.

Taking ever-changing eating recommendations in one's stride and eating moderately and with great variety IS taking it seriously.

It is not a question of not taking science seriously, but science has got to justify why it wishes to be taken seriously and at the moment the science of nutrition is still in the alchemy stage. One day it is doom and disaster if you eat fat, Fibre is the way forward, then it is carbs bring death, eat more fat, now no salt, then well...... Then they change their mind and we go round the circle again.

When the science of nutrition grows up I will take some notice of it.

Surely all science has to justify is the quality of the research. Not what anyone does with it?

Some years ago there was an experiment, albeit with a limited number, allowing children to eat pretty much whatever they wanted. Their choices were analysed weekly rather than daily and it turned out that over a period of about seven days their choices averaged out to a balanced diet. Individual meals were not necessarily "healthy" but the overall intake was. Perhaps the government should interfere less.

Yes Absent I think that has been known for some time, that children will select for themselves a balanced diet over time.
However, what they are offered has to be balanced, and I am afraid there are many homes where what is on offer isn't balanced or nutritious.

Jess and Flickety I think the problem with the science of nutrition is that most of the evidence that is used is epidemiological, and so not robust, compared with randomised controlled trials.
The not very good evidence is then 'interpreted' by others with vested interests. That includes of course the Department of Health.

I seem to remember the children in the research experiment were very young, not much more than babies. Older children are more likely to be more convinced of their likes and dislikes and be averse to anything unfamiliar, so would not necessarily eat a balanced diet if they were allowed to choose what to eat.

You are, of course, right janeainsworth. I think the experiment was done quite a while ago when ready meals were not so widely available and before a balanced diet meant a Big Mac in each hand.

Ana I think it was older children, and as Absent says, the observations were carried out over a period of time.
A balanced diet doesn't have to include all that wide a range of foodstuffs - there are many different sources of protein for example.

Must have been a different one I remember, jane.

Bang on about epidemiological 'studies', jane, and vested interests.

Wonder how many have read this study. Isn't it based on the eating habits of over 60,000 people and their incidence of stroke and cancer?

The advice is offered. Take it or leave it, your choice. No Food Police checking your trolley at the checkout

Just as well, as my trolley today in Sainsburys had a few guilty pleasures in it.

As long as it had a decent-sized cucumber in it you'll be OK, roses!

Not totally to the point but interesting. One of the large supermarket chains in New Zealand is now selling lottery tickets at the standard check-outs. There is already evidence that when there is a rollover less is spent on food. It does say something about people's priorities and healthy eating.

Ana is right, the experiment involved very young children. This article doesn't seem to suggest there have been others.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=children+choose+a+balanced+diet&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

That study with the children was done an awful long time ago and has been much quoted and misquoted over the decades. Anybody know what the original study was? All my books are packed away or given to oxfam last year.

Sorry I gave the wrong link. I think this is the original study.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626509/

Reading how this research was conducted, I suspect finding a balanced diet was the least of those children's problems!

Impossible to do nutrition studies that are not epidemiological, I would think. They have to be done over a long time, as in the Oxford and Epic studies. The Epic study was to compare vegetarian/vegan diets with omnivore diets. I think it was for over 20 years; my husband and I were part of it.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which includes dieticians, has just completed a study of over 72000 people examining the nutrient intake of all groups of eaters.
They discovered that the average protein and B12 intake was roughly the same for all groups. Vegans had a higher intake of iron than meat-eaters and their calcium intake was at the recommended daily dose.
They had a higher intake of vitamins and minerals and fibre, and a lower intake of fat. They were also the group within normal BMI range, whereas all the other groups were in the overweight range. Total energy intakes were similar for all groups.