We know that the more fruit and vegetables you eat as a child, the more you eat as an adult. We need a major change in the modern diet among children and youth to prevent a dramatic increase in heart diseases and a number of cancer varieties. Norwegian authorities recommend an increase to 65 percent in the average consumption of fruit and vegetables. According to a Norwegian estimate, this change in nutrition would lead to a decrease of cancer on the lip, tongue, throat, oesophagus, and stomach with more than 50 percent, and a decrease of cancer in rectum and pancreas with 40 percent. Modern families tend to skip common meals.
Food is taken in a hurry in the kitchen, at a snack bar, or in the office.
Regular meals, healthy food, and time spent at the table are important to our health and total well being. The situation described above is typical for most industrialised countries. We even find it emerging among upper and middle class people in developing countries. It is necessary with extensive national and international programmes to promote a major change. Young people must learn about the consequences of a physically inactive lifestyle.