Think Australia sometimes lags behind the rest of the world a little? Think again. When it comes to health and what we should be putting in our bodies, it seems we Aussies have had the right idea for years.

Research released this week by the highly respected University College London shows that rather than the World Health Organisation-recommended five serves of fruit and veggies a day, we should be consuming seven or more if we want to ward off diseases like cancer – which is precisely what the Australian Government has been saying since 2005, the year the ‘Go for 2&5’ campaign was launched, urging us to have two serves of fruit and five of veggies every single day. So tell us something we didn’t know, London!

The 12-year long ‘Health Survey for England’ conducted by UCL studied the eating habits of 65,226 people and uncovered some interesting facts:

• Eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day reduces your risk of death at any point in time by a whopping 42% (compared with eating less than one portion).
• Eating seven or more also reduces the specific risks of death by cancer and heart disease by 25% and 31% respectively.

Those are some serious figures that we would all do well to take notice of. But for those that find pouring that much of the (genuinely) good stuff down our throats a bit of an effort, is it really a realistic proposition?

True, broccoli just doesn’t have the same satisfaction rating as a good old fashioned chocolate bar, but the secret is to trick yourself into consuming more fruit and veggies, so that you don’t even notice you’re doing it.

A handy section on the Go for 2&5 website reveals some cunning tricks for slipping more goodness into your diet. They include:

• sneaking extra fruit into breakfast cereal
• sticking some apple into your pancake mix
• puréeing fruit juice and making ice-cubes to add to drinks
• padding out that stir-fry with more veggies and less meat
• using things like lettuce leaves, pumpkins and eggplant as edible containers (less washing up!)
• opting for carrot and celery sticks instead of chips when you’re sampling those dips at sociable gatherings.

The health survey was lead by a Dr Oyinola Oyebode, who described the size of the effect revealed by the study as “staggering”. She also had some pretty simple advice – for everyone, regardless of age or gender: “However much you are eating now, eat more.”

So get stuffing!

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means it’s not personalised health advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.