Vegetables and fruits
Vegetables and fruits form a variable part of diets throughout the world.
On a population basis, vegetables (which here exclude roots and tubers, and pulses) and fruits, supply less than 5 per cent total energy in most countries. In some areas of China, Oceania, and the Caribbean, vegetables and fruits provide over 10 per cent total energy; in southern Europe they provide about 6 per cent total energy. Industrialised diets average about 5 per cent total energy from vegetables and fruits. Consumption is lowest in parts of eastern Europe and in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia. Consumption is higher where, for climatic reasons, there is abundant supply, and lower where there is short or seasonal supply, and in parts of Africa and Asia where diets are impoverished.

Consumption overall does not greatly vary as a function of economic development. Generally, vegetables and fruits are low in energy and are good sources of fibre and of vitamins and minerals. In some developing countries, where food is scarce or diets are monotonous, the inclusion in the diet of even small amounts of vegetables and fruits containing b-carotene and vitamin C help prevent scurvy.

Sugars
Sugars and sweeteners include sugar (sucrose), dextrose (glucose), corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners (e.g. aspartame and acesulphame -K). Table sugar (sucrose) occurs naturally in fruit, sugar beets and sugar cane. The plant is cut, crushed to release juice, and then boiled into syrup. This syrup is then processed to make the final products (molasses, brown sugar, white sugar, confectioner's sugar, etc).

To make white sugar, the liquid sugar syrup is filtered to whiten it, then it is milled into granules. In developed countries, sugar is increasingly becoming a food ingredient for processed foods, whereas in developing countries, it is more likely to be bought as a straight product. Other sweeteners are based on the simple sugars (e.g. glucose and fructose) that occur naturally in every living organism. They are a source of sweetness in fruit and honey and can turn brown with heating, contributing to the colour of bread crust and toast. Corn syrup consists mostly of glucose, and is a sweet, thick liquid made by treating cornstarch with acids or enzymes. Alternatively, corn syrup can be treated with enzymes to convert some of its dextrose to fructose, which results in High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

Artificial sweeteners are made by chemical reactions. They provide the sweetness of sugars without as many calories, so they are often used for diet products or as sugar substitutes. Saccharin (Sweet 'N Low) was the first artificial sweetener, a coal tar derivative which is 350 times sweeter than sugar. Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet) is 160 times sweeter than sugar and is made up primarily of two amino acids. Sugar, corn syrup, and other refined sweeteners provide calories, but no vitamins, minerals, or protein. Someone getting 15 per cent of their calories from such a source would have to get 100 per cent of their nutrients from the other 85 per cent of their food. Sugar and other refined sugars may also be implicated in obesity, tooth decay, and potentially heart disease. But artificial sweeteners may be associated with other health risks.

Americans consume about 30kg of sucrose per year. That figure is down from about 46kg per year in 1970, but the decrease has been more than made up for with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and dextrose (glucose). About 71kg of all refined sugars are produced in the United States per person per year, an increase of 28 per cent since 1983. Interestingly that's just when the use of aspartame started skyrocketing. In other words, it appears that artificial sweeteners have not replaced the sugars, but may have stimulated America's sweet tooth. Globally, there has been a small decrease in the share of calories obtained from sugars and sweeteners since 1970, but the figures are complicated by the role of low calorie sweeteners. Consumption in industrialised countries decreased from the early 1970s, when sugars and sweeteners accounted for about 14.3 per cent of total calories consumed, to the late 1990s, when it was about 13.4 per cent. Consumption in developing countries, by contrast, increased during the same period - from 6.5 per cent in the early 1970s to 7.2 per cent in the late 1990s, perhaps reflecting increasing incomes and a move towards Western-style patterns of consumption.

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