Fruits and vegetables: Older people are not getting their five-a-day

Dr Katherine Appleton from the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast conducted the research on behalf of CAP. Dr Appleton said: "Fruit and vegetables are vital for psychological as well as physical health. We found that fruit and vegetable consumption became lower with increasing age and that intake was particularly low in males and people living in more deprived areas.

"Older people should eat more fruit and vegetables. They are more likely to do this if they are aware of the five-a-day recommendations and associated health benefits. We recommend that more should be done to raise older people’s awareness of these issues and increase their exposure to products and dishes that contain fruit and vegetables.