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In 2006, comedian Jay Leno proudly told Parade magazine that he hadn't eaten a vegetable since 1969. And it looks as if he is sticking to his no-green-food ways: In a recent skit, he accompanied Pee-wee Herman (aka Paul Reubens) to a salad bar — and declined everything except a cookie and a batch of deep-fried potatoes (technically a vegetable but not exactly a health food).
While Leno may be vegetable-hating extremist, he's hardly alone in failing to get enough produce in his diet. Just 27% of adults in the USA eat at least three servings of vegetables a day and just 33% eat at least two servings of fruit a day, said a report released in September by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A scant 14% meet those marks for both fruits and vegetables.

KIDS AND VEGGIES: Getting them to dig in
So is it time to give up on selling broccoli to reluctant grown-ups like Leno and just focus on kids?

No, insist nutrition and public health experts. "It is absolutely possible for adults to change their eating patterns," says Marisa Moore, a registered dietitian in Atlanta and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "And adults are the best role models when it comes to children." They also buy most of the food. So for the good of both adults and children, she says, "we can't give up on them."

Adults do change, says Heidi Blanck, senior nutrition scientist at the CDC: "Older adults do have higher (produce) consumption rates than younger adults. We see it start to creep up right around age 45."

That's about the time many people develop health problems linked to poor diets, she notes. But ideally, people would discover the joys of a crisp apple and a delicious veggie stir-fry long before their clogged arteries screamed for mercy.

For years, the federal government tried to reach consumers with its "5 Day" campaign. In 2007, it was replaced with "Fruits & Veggies: More Matters," a partnership led by CDC and the private Produce for Better Health Foundation.

The name change reflects new thinking: Experts say individual needs vary, but in general, more is better. (You can get personal recommendations at fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov.)

A good rule of thumb, says foundation president Elizabeth Pivonka: Half of what you eat should be fruits, vegetables or beans.

But if you haven't heard of "More Matters," Pivonka isn't surprised. The program runs on just$4 million a year. That's a tiny sum in the world of food marketing, where big bucks are spent to sell burgers, chips and soda. For now, she says, the campaign is a "slow, steady effort" that depends on supermarkets and others to spread the word.

Meanwhile, some are trying other tactics, including taking fruits and vegetables to workplaces. At the Texas Department of State Health Services, employees can order weekly baskets of local produce to be delivered to their offices, Blanck says. People who work for the CDC in Atlanta can shop at weekly parking-lot farmers markets. Health care giant Kaiser Permanente has a similar program.