Young find fruit and vegetables 'unappealing'

YOUNGER people think vegetables are boring and tasteless and fruit too messy to eat, a survey for the Health Education Authority shows. Fewer than half of 25- to 34-year-olds eat fruit every day, against 75 per cent of those past retirement age, writes Nicholas Timmins.

Deeply ingrained attitudes to fruit and vegetables emerge as the HEA launches a campaign today to boost the consumption of both in the face of figures that show average consumption is static. Most people need to eat more to achieve a balanced diet - and for the Government to hit its Health of the Nation targets aimed at reducing fat intake and the numbers who are obese.

People know they should be eating more fruit and vegetables, the HEA's figures show, but too many people mistakenly regard them as expensive, inaccessible, time-consuming and difficult to prepare.

The HEA's campaign aims to explode such 'myths' while entering a strong defence of frozen and canned fruit and vegetables, which can be just as good as fresh, particularly when canned without added salt or sugar.