Health promoting Properties of Fruits and Vegetables

Book Preface

eat products that have been stored for variable periods. This fact is often overlooked, and indeed the effect of storage on health-promoting properties of fruit and vegetables has been overshadowed largely by the drive towards reducing waste and maintaining eating quality and storage life. With more urbanization, the greater reliance on logistics and supply chain management will serve to make stored fruit and vegetables more accessible, yet only to those who can afford it. The incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and obesity, has become a major public health problem in developing countries, and these diseases are expected to account for about 70% of deaths by 2020 (WHO, 2002). However, deaths from chronic non-communicable diseases will escalate with the greater consumption of animal- based food products, but will decrease with higher consumption of fruit and vegetables. It is clear that these worrying trends are now starting to be reflected in the emerging economie