How to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: A Multistakeholder Approach for Improved Health Outcomes—A Report from the Alliance for Food & Health

Nutrition is the fundamental bridge between food and health. Inadequate fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption has been linked to an increase in global noncommunicable diseases, which places a greater burden on health systems (1) Hall JN, Moore S, Harper SB, Lynch JW. Global variability in fruit and vegetable consumption. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2009;36(5):402–409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2009.01.029. PMID:19362694.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Despite much emphasis from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the benefits of increased FV consumption, neither results nor an understanding of the complexity of food security and the actions of a diverse array of stakeholders needed to achieve outcomes have been attained. To address this challenge, the Alliance for Food & Health (AFH) uses a multistakeholder approach to engage cross-sector solutions. This paper, the first in a series, addresses the global challenge of FV consumption by examining and synthesizing current practices and outcomes and providing actionable recommendations for government, private-sector, and civil-society stakeholders. To effectively reduce the global noncommunicable disease (NCD) burden, it is critical that stakeholders work in concordance with the WHO/FAO Second International Conference on Nutrition commitments (Table 1), United Nations (UN) Decade of Action on Nutrition Action Areas (Table 2), and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) applicable to this issue (Table 3). AFH's top line recommendations (Table 4) align with multiple UN SDGs (2) United Nations Department of Public Information. Sustainable development goals; 2015. Available from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300. [Google Scholar]. All recommendations connect with the following three SDGs: #2: “Zero Hunger,” #3: “Good Health and Well-Being,” and #17: “Partnerships for the Goals.” This indicates AFH's integration of the food, agriculture, and global health communities in efforts to combat NCDs. A variety of recommendations align with #9: “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure,” #11: “Sustainable Cities and Communities,” and #12: “Responsible Consumption and Production.”