A roadmap to get fruit and veg back on the table

We all know that a healthy body requires a diet rich in fruits and vegetables., yet the vast majority of people living in the US don’t eat the recommended daily amounts of these plant foods. This deficit, and the accompanying over-reliance on grain-based and ultraprocessed foods, means that America is experiencing a health epidemic of obesity and accompanying type 2 diabetes. This article, by Gunter et al., explores the causes of these problems. Their key finding is that fruits and vegetables are simply too expensive, leading people to rely on cheaper, low-quality foods, a trend that is even more pronounced among people in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Several factors contribute to the high costs including the fact that domestic production is inadequate, and horticultural research grossly underfunded. The authors call for increased funding for fruit and vegetable improvement, targeting nutrient content, palatability, shelf life, and traits that make them more available to mechanical harvesting to reduce labor costs. They also call for better community outreach to help reverse people’s bad eating habits, and more research to explore how to reverse chronic health problems through better nutrition.  (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 10.1073/pnas.2501723122