SA Campaign information

SA Health launched Phase 3 of the South Australian Go for 2&5 social marketing campaign in September 2011. This campaign phase aims to help reduce the risks of poor nutrition, overweight and obesity and chronic disease. In the new campaign ‘Vegie Man’ is joined by his son, ‘Harry the Vegie Kid’ to demonstrate how to get two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables into your daily diet.

The campaign aims to increase the fruit and vegetable consumption of South Australians to meet the national targets set in 2008. It also aims to reduce the burden of disease and demand on the health system. Health authorities recommend that Australian adults need to eat at least 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables a day to obtain health benefits.

The TV, radio advertisements and community education resources aim to educate and explain what constitutes one serve of vegetables. It highlights the need for parents to role model good eating behaviours to children, because ‘the more fruit and vegies you eat, the more they’ll eat.’

Why promote fruit and vegetable consumption?

Increasing fruit and vegetable intake is a priority for Australians and may be the single most important dietary change to promote health and reduce the risk of diet-related disease. Diets high in fruit and vegetables provide many of the essential nutrients needed for good health. As a group, they are rich in vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, vitamin A, folate, potassium and fibre. They are low in fat, sodium (salt) and energy (kilojoules).

Increasing fruit and vegetable intake decreases the risk of conditions such as:

• cardiovascular disease,
• hypertension (high blood pressure),
• stroke, and
• some forms of cancer.

In addition eating more fruit and vegetables can assist in:

• maintaining a healthy weight,
• controlling diabetes and
• reduce the risk of constipation.

For more information about the current South Australian Go for 2&5 campaign read the phase three Campaign Information Bulletin.

For information about resources available in South Australia, visit the SA Health website.

Further enquiries can be directed to the Health Promotion Branch, SA Health on (08) 8226 6329 or email [email protected].