Today we know that 1 out of 5 children go to school without eating any food in the morning. Many of them come from families where one hardly finds bread at home. This is a result of a busy and modern life-style that the family rarely eats breakfast, and many children do not bring food to school. Instead, they buy potato chips, chocolate, and sweet drinks. At the age of 19, Norwegian young people in average eat fruit and vegetables only 3 times a week.
Norwegian authorities recommend eating fruit and vegetables five times a day.
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.