Search results

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of availability of fruits and vegetables on adult workers' consumption adequacy in the workplace.

A total of 1,344 workers, who have had meals in 30 different companies, located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, are assessed. Two indicators are used to assess the following: workers' consumption of fruits and vegetables; usual consumption, found through a questionnaire on frequency of consumption of these foods; and workplace consumption, assessed with a food consumption questionnaire provided by the company. Availability of fruits and vegetables in the menus is obtained using the descriptions of meals given to workers on three consecutive days. Data analysis is performed with logistic regression models that used two outcomes: usual consumption of fruits and vegetables and consumption of these foods in the workplace. Explanatory variables are divided into two levels: the first one was comprised by workers' characteristics (sex, age and level of education), and the second one by food availability in the workplace.

Consumption of fruits and vegetables, both the usual one and that in the workplace, is higher in women, and also in older individuals and those with higher level of education. Availability of fruits and vegetables in the workplace has a significant impact on usual food consumption and especially on the workplace, in which case the variable shows greatest impact on consumption.

This study demonstrates the importance of the availability of fruits and vegetables in the workplace that influence consumption of food by workers, revealing the importance of using this environment to promote healthy eating.

The present paper explores Generation Z university students' clusters based on the consumption of daily fruits and vegetables in an emerging market economy, indicating young people's reasons to adopt a healthy diet.

Using cluster theory, the authors analyse Generation Z university students who consume fresh fruits and vegetables, highlighting aspects of a healthy diet, in compliance with the WHO recommendations and challenges.

Data collected from over 459 Generation Z university students point out the possibility of typologizing them into nine clusters: three consuming fresh fruit and six consuming fresh vegetables. Most cluster members are aware of the value of regular fresh fruit and vegetable consumption in order to maintain health and overall well-being, but the authors also identified a cluster called “urban, but sick humanists at the beginning of their professional careers”, for whom a healthy diet based on fruits and vegetables is not a priority.

Although this research only refers to consumers in the emergent economy Romania, it also allows the delimitation of specific categories which can be utilized by sector stakeholders, in order to identify issues addressed by each cluster member and to find the most appropriate solutions for encouraging/promoting a healthy diet.

The paper also raises awareness of the importance of fruit and vegetable consumption in other emerging economies, given the advancement of processed food and reduction of time available to cook healthy dishes.

The results contribute to extending studies conducted on emerging markets concerning fruit and vegetable consumption among Generation Z university students, highlighting the importance of a healthy diet, and the proper targeting of these consumer clusters by fresh fruit and vegetable producers and distributors.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the evidence base of the Food Dudes healthy eating programme, specifically the short- and long-term effectiveness of the intervention for consumption of fruit and vegetables both at school and at home and displacement of unhealthy snack consumption.

Articles were identified using Academic Search Complete, PsycARTICLES, Medline and PubMed databases keywords for the period January 1995 to August 2013. Articles were included if they reported an empirical evaluation of the Food Dudes programme aimed at children aged between 4-11 years. Articles were included regardless of geographical location and publication type (i.e. published and “grey” literature).

Six articles were included for review. Findings indicated that the programme was moderately effective in the short term; however, the long-term effectiveness of the programme is unknown. The ability of the programme to generalise to the home setting and to displace unhealthy snack foods also requires further investigation.

This is the first independent review of the Food Dudes programme. In light of the extensive roll out of the Food Dudes programme, an appraisal of the evidence surrounding the programme is timely. The review highlights that sustaining fruit and vegetable intake cannot be achieved through behaviour-based interventions alone and the long-term maintenance of fruit and vegetable consumption requires more than the implementation of an intervention found to be effective in a controlled research environment.

The purpose of this paper is to fill a knowledge gap by examining the changes in fruit and vegetable consumption of Chinese households.

Using 1993 and 2001 household survey data from three selected provinces in China, the authors estimated a quantile regression (QR) model to demonstrate how changes of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption over time may differ across regions, and additionally, how these changes may differ over the entire distribution.

Results show significant increases in fresh fruit consumption for all provinces; in addition, the pattern of changes over time differs across the entire distribution. In contrast, significant decreases of fresh vegetable consumption are evident, and results are robust across regions; however, the disparities of fresh vegetable consumption across regions are not significant.

The results may shed some light on the national food policy. First, any food policy that may affect prices of fresh fruits and vegetables will likely affect households in lower percentiles more than those in upper percentiles. In addition, based on the findings, households in Guangdong may have a higher risk of inadequate fruit consumption. Lower level consumption of fruits in Guangdong may be caused by its relatively high prices of fruits and perhaps the shifting consumption pattern to a more meat‐based diet as income increases.

There has been considerable interest in estimating food demand structure in China due to its huge market for food products. However, little is known about the fruits and vegetables products. In addition, most of the previous studies used the linear regression‐type model for analysis, which fails to capture the effects of the exogenous factors on the entire distribution. To fill the knowledge gap, this paper uses a QR model with the different‐in‐difference method to examine the changes in fruit and vegetable consumption of Chinese households.

It is known that the consumption of fruits and vegetables in children is declining despite wide-spread national and international policy attempts to increase consumption. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables so as to facilitate better health education targeting.

In this qualitative descriptive exploratory study, peer group interviews were undertaken with 18 girls and 18 boys, aged 8-11, from schools in the Manawatu region of New Zealand.

The results show that children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables is dependent on balancing risk and reward. Children know and understand the importance of eating fruits and vegetables; however, the perceived risks are typically the prevailing determinant of consumption. These perceived risks often stem from children’s uncertainty about whether the fruits and vegetables will meet the child’s sensory preferences. To mitigate the risks perceived in eating fruits and vegetables, children employ a range of avoidance strategies.

This study’s results indicate that a model of “associated” risk is a valuable tool to explain children’s fruit and vegetable consumption and preference behaviour and to assist in the development of future health education intervention campaigns.

More tailored interventions and campaigns are needed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption to recommended levels. The purpose of this paper is to explore which consumer groups exist based on both their fruit and vegetable consumption level and their health-related motive orientations (HRMO), and to compare the revealed consumer clusters regarding their fruit and vegetable product attribute importance.

In the Netherlands an online panel survey was carried out resulting in 1,296 respondents. The clusters based on HRMO and fruit and vegetable intake are profiled with respect to demographics and product attribute importance.

Cluster analysis revealed six homogeneous consumer clusters with different HRMO and fruit and vegetable consumption levels. In addition, these clusters show a different socio-demographic profile and differ in their importance ratings of fruit and vegetable product attributes.

The results show that health is a multidimensional construct suggesting that there is a need for addressing health in interventions and campaigns in a more tailored approach.

This study shows that the combination of both usage- and psychographic segmentation variables provide valuable and interesting information that give insights in addressing different target groups. Moreover, this study elaborates on previous research by showing that health is a multidimensional construct and that Dutch consumers differ in their HRMO.

This paper aimed to identify the key elements that should be included in a fruit and vegetable‐promoting programme in British primary schools. Such a programme could be used in healthy schools schemes or “five‐a‐day” programmes. Five US school intervention studies were analysed to identify their most effective elements. Four of the five studies found that their intervention had a significant effect on fruit and vegetable consumption. All the studies were behaviourally focussed and used interactive teaching methods and were based on social cognitive theory. Targeting fruit and vegetable consumption appeared to be more effective than broader lifestyle/healthy eating interventions. All studies, except one, increased the availability of fruit and vegetables at school lunches but none increased their availability at snack times and breakfast. Three studies taught preparation skills. All included taste testing activities which aim to increase familiarity and so increase taste preferences. Four used role models to promote fruit and vegetables and two gave rewards for consumption. One study attempted to improve the sensory properties of fruit and vegetables at lunch through preparation techniques. Two studies included a community involvement component and four involved families in the intervention. Results from two of the studies showed that interventions must be maintained over time if effects are to be maintained. Greater effects were seen for fruit consumption than vegetable consumption except for one study which focussed specifically on vegetables.

Scotland has a poor diet‐related health record and part of the drive to improve Scottish diet has focused attention on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. Despite various attempts, consumption remains well below World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations. Consumer confusion and complacency towards diet are apparent and the relationship between knowledge about good diet and behaviour is unclear. Highlights the need to consider how consumers make choices. Diet and health are not regarded as a problem for the majority of Scots but the major barriers to increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables reflect the additional costs incurred and the somewhat limited role for these products in Scottish cuisine. Indicates that price incentives and emphasis on the healthy benefits of eating more fruit and vegetables appear to be the most likely to succeed in increasing consumption; but there appear to be more opportunities to increase fruit as opposed to vegetable consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the utility of rationalistic constructs for predicting fruit and vegetable intake in children. It was hypothesised that children's gain‐loss evaluations will predict their stage of uptake irrespective of important additional variables.

Over 200 pupils from a Derbyshire secondary school completed a cross‐sectional questionnaire assessing stages‐of‐change (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance), gain‐loss considerations, prior consumption, self‐efficacy, and attitude.

Discriminant function analysis revealed self‐efficacy, attitude, and previous consumption as significant predictors of group membership for both fruit and vegetable intake. Group centroids indicated clear separation of earlier from later stages, and transitional from other stages. Gain‐loss appraisals failed to predict stage membership. Finally, 63.4 and 59.1 per cent of original grouped cases for vegetable and fruit consumption, respectively, were correctly classified. However, classification accuracy varied across stages.

The sample was predominantly Caucasian and from a suburban area. Thus, the generality of these findings to children from other demographics is unclear.

Interventions promoting fruit/vegetable intake in children may lack efficacy if they emphasise possible outcomes (e.g. benefits) associated with eating these foods. Modifying opinions and suggesting easier ways to increase consumption may achieve better results.

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of gain‐loss considerations in adult's stage of fruit/vegetable intake. The current paper extends this literature to children; it appears rationalistic constructs play a negligible role in children when considered within the context of other variables.

Opens by identifying fruit and vegetable consumption differences between socio‐economic groups in Britain. Goes on to outline current understanding of antioxidants and the role they have in preventing or stemming disease processes. Explores factors which determine consumption of fruit and vegetables across all social groups, before considering in detail the impact of inadequate income. Considers the relationship between smoking, low income and fruit and vegetable consumption and notes that despite increased antioxidant requirements smokers on low income exhibit lower levels of consumption. Rejects the notion that such purchasing patterns are irrational in the circumstances and concludes that a national healthy diet policy, particularly one which increases the consumption of fruit and vegetables, cannot be dissociated from social protection.