Overweight instead of fruits and vegetables
Almost every second person in Switzerland is overweight. This is the result of menuCH, a national survey on eating, drinking and exercise habits. As the representative study further revealed, the official recommendations on fruit and vegetable consumption meet with a rather low response.
Around 2000 adults from all over Switzerland were surveyed for menuCH. With regard to body weight, the evaluations of the Body Mass Index (BMI) show that 54 percent have a normal body weight. In contrast, 44 percent are overweight. The proportion of overweight men is more than twice as high as that of women.
Only around 2 percent of the population have too low a body weight, although this affects women three times more frequently than men. The picture is roughly the same for Switzerland as a whole; there are no significant differences between the language regions.
"5 a day" is the exception
The results for fruit and vegetable consumption are also similar for the different parts of the country. Around 87% of respondents aged 18 to 75 consume one or more portions of fruit and vegetables daily. A good quarter of the population in Switzerland eats 3 to 4 servings daily. But only 13 percent of respondents follow the dietary recommendation of "5 a day"; that is, they eat 5 or more servings daily.
However, there are regional differences in the proportion of the population that eats very few fruits and vegetables. 22 percent of the Italian-speaking population consume less than one serving per day. In German-speaking Switzerland, the corresponding figure is 13 percent and in French-speaking Switzerland around 12 percent.
In the data collection for menuCH, respondents voluntarily provided information on their eating and drinking habits, as well as on their physical activity behavior. In addition, body weight and height were measured. menuCH is a project of the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) in collaboration with the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of Lausanne (IUMSP) conducted the survey on behalf of the BLV and the BAG.
The results mentioned do not yet represent all study results. They are part of the new brochure on the FOPH's Monitoring System on Diet and Physical Activity (MOSEB), which will be published at the beginning of November 2016. However, the presentation of the data on nutrition and physical activity in Switzerland is limited to 18- to 64-year-olds, which leads to different values. After completion of the evaluation of menuCH, a comprehensive communication of the FSVO on the findings and conclusions will follow in 2017.
Source: BLV
