IS IT time to alter the advice to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day to a whopping eight daily doses?

That’s a key question raised by an eight-year study of 300,000 Europeans in eight countries, which found that eating eight portions daily reduced the risk of heart disease by 22 per cent, compared with people who ate fewer than three portions (European Heart Journal, DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehq465).

The “5-a-day” mantra arose from a World Health Organization document in 2002, and has been backed by many governments. But Francesca Crowe of the University of Oxford, who was involved in the study, says that in general the risk of a fatal heart attack fell by about 4 per cent with every fruit or veg portion, regardless of the total number consumed each day.

Would raising the recommendation to eight be asking too much? “It may be overkill,” says Crowe. “Five-a-day probably is enough, but if people want to consume more, there may be additional benefits.”

In April last year, the value of eating 5-a-day came under scrutiny following a study which found that it reduced the likelihood of cancer by only 9 per cent.