nutrients Article Nutritional Significance of Fruit and Fruit Products in the Average Polish Diet Krystyna Rejman , Hanna Górska-Warsewicz * , Joanna Kaczorowska and Waclaw Laskowski   Citation: Rejman, K.; Górska-Warsewicz, H.; Kaczorowska, J.; Laskowski, W. Nutritional Significance of Fruit and Fruit Products in the Average Polish Diet. Nutrients 2021, 13, 2079. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu13062079 Academic Editor: Rosa Casas Received: 1 May 2021 Accepted: 16 June 2021 Published: 17 June 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Department of Food Market and Consumer Research, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 07-787 Warsaw, Poland; krystyna_rejman@sggw.pl (K.R.); joanna_kaczorowska@sggw.pl (J.K.); waclaw_laskowski@sggw.pl (W.L.) * Correspondence: hanna_gorska_warsewicz@sggw.pl Abstract: The aim of the present study was to analyze the supply of energy, 19 nutrients, free sugars, and dietary fiber in the average Polish diet from fruit and fruit products. Our analysis is based on 2016 data from the national representative household budget survey conducted on a sample of 36,886 households, yielding a population of 99,230 individuals. Fruit and fruit products provided 3.12% of energy to the average diet in Poland with the highest share of bananas and apples. The highest significance of this food group was found for vitamin C (23.65%), including citrus fruits providing 8.03% of vitamin C, berries (5.97%), other fruits (3.45%), and apples (3.13%). The share of fruit and their products in the supply of free sugars is equally high and amounts to 23.52%. This means that apples provide 6.34% of free sugars, while other fruits also have a high supply of free sugars, including berries 3.68%, stone fruits 3.06%, bananas 2.56%, and citrus fruits 2.54%. The proportion of supply exceeding the percentage of energy (which was 3.12%) was obtained for carbohydrate (5.79%), and fiber (13.66%). The food group studied was particularly important (more than 5% share) in providing four minerals: potassium (8.59%), iron (5.07%), magnesium (5.51%), copper (8.81%), and three vitamins: vitamin C (23.65%), vitamin B6 (5.74%), and vitamin E (5.53%). The influence of sociodemographic and economic characteristics of households on the structure of energy and nutrient supply from fruit and fruit products was assessed using cluster analysis. There were four clusters characterized by different energy, nutrient, and fiber supply. The factors with the highest statistical significance on the supply of energy, nutrients, and fiber from fruit and fruit products were month of study, income, degree of urbanization, education, size of town, and land use. The obtained results concerning energy and nutrient supply from fruits and fruit products are important for the Polish society from the public health point of view, as indicated in the discussion of results and conclusions. Keywords: fruit and products; energy sources; fiber sources; bananas; apples; sources of vitamins; sources of minerals; sources of carbohydrates 1. Introduction It is recognized that fruit and fruit products consumption is associated with protec- tive effects against various chronic diseases [1], particularly cardiovascular diseases [2,3], hypertension [4], type 2 diabetes [5], different types of cancer [2,6–8], asthma [9], obe- sity [10], cognitive impairment [11], and depression [12,13]. Fruits and vegetables are the cornerstone for a healthy and sustainable diet i.e., with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security, and to healthy life for present and future generations [14]. According to various expert bodies, the greatest benefits to human and planetary health can be achieved by consuming a minimum of 400 g of fruit and vegetables per person each day, which in dietary practice means five servings including a higher proportion of vegetables [15–18]. However, due to a number of factors, such as availability, affordability or lack of knowledge and awareness, the typical daily fruit intake among many people around the world is far below the recommended level [19,20]. Nutrients 2021, 13, 2079. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13062079 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients