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Article
Publication date: 9 February 2010

Daniel Henrique Bandoni, Kelly Cristina de Moura Bombem, Dirce Maria Lobo Marchioni and Patricia Constante Jaime

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

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Abstract

Purpose

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

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 January 2023

Ana M. Arboleda, Luciana C. Manfredi, Giuseppina Marcazzo and Christian Arroyo

This research aims to reach meaningful insights into fruit consumption motives. The study articulates contextual motives observed through inherent fruit characteristics (i.e…

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to reach meaningful insights into fruit consumption motives. The study articulates contextual motives observed through inherent fruit characteristics (i.e. attributes and benefits) with personal motives that transcend the situation (i.e. emotions and cultural values).

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study used the focus group technique comprising eight groups of eight to 10 subjects (n = 94). The participants were frequent fresh-fruit consumers.

Findings

The analysis differentiates contextual motives from transituational ones. Older participants are motivated by taking care of health matters. They value fruit as an expression of their determination to take action and care for others. Younger participants are motivated by the experience of pleasure. Fruits have a hedonic value related to joy, being refreshing and tasteful.

Practical implications

Results serve marketers and decision-makers to better target motivations for fruit consumption enhancement. These motivations could be implemented by communicating specific fruit attributes that respond to short-term needs. In the long run, marketers could create fruit consumption campaigns that respond to deeper consumer values.

Social implications

Designing fruit consumption campaigns aligned with individuals' motives could effectively strengthen the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. This study is helpful from the aspect of a public-policy approach expected to improve public health.

Originality/value

Consumers' fruit preference transcends tangible product characteristics to motives aligned with their goals, emotions and human values. This path merges two approaches: contextual motivations and the Means-end chain model. The first approach recognises short-term observable product characteristics, whereas the latter works on long-term values.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 125 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2021

Cristina Bianca Pocol, Valentina Marinescu, Dan-Cristian Dabija and Antonio Amuza

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…

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Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Research limitations/implications

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.

Social implications

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 123 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Charlotte Taylor, Penney Upton and Dominic Upton

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…

1818

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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).

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

Health Education, vol. 115 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2011

Kang Ernest Liu, Hung‐Hao Chang and Wen S. Chern

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

Abstract

Purpose

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

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Research limitations/implications

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 3 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 August 2019

Toby Bartle, Barbara Mullan, Elizaveta Novoradovskaya, Vanessa Allom and Penelope Hasking

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of choice on the development and maintenance of a fruit consumption behaviour and if behaviour change was underpinned by…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of choice on the development and maintenance of a fruit consumption behaviour and if behaviour change was underpinned by habit strength.

Design/methodology/approach

A 2×2×3 mixed model experimental design was used. The independent variables were pictorial cue and fruit consumption manipulated on two levels: choice and no choice, across three-time points: baseline, post-intervention (after two weeks) and follow-up (one week later). Participants (n=166) completed demographics, the self-report habit index and fruit intake at all three-time points.

Findings

All participants showed significant increases in fruit consumption and habit strength at post-intervention and follow-up. However, participants provided neither choice of cue nor fruit showed a significant decrease in consumption at follow-up.

Practical implications

Fruit consumption can be significantly increased with a relatively simple intervention; choice seems to have an effect on behaviour maintenance, providing no choice negatively effects behaviour maintenance post-intervention. This may inform future interventions designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption.

Originality/value

The intervention that the authors designed and implemented in the current study is the first of its kind, where choice was manipulated in two different ways and behaviour was changed with a simple environmental cue intervention.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 121 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2006

Evelien Reinaerts, Jascha de Nooijer, Angélique van de Kar and Nanne de Vries

The purpose of this research is to explore individual and social factors that are associated with children's F&V (fruit and vegetable) intake in order to develop a school‐based…

1670

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to explore individual and social factors that are associated with children's F&V (fruit and vegetable) intake in order to develop a school‐based intervention to increase their F&V consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

Group interviews were conducted with ten groups of Dutch children (n=104), aged 4‐12 years, and two groups of parents (n=28). Additionally, a total of ten parents participated in an interview by telephone. Opinions about the actual F&V consumption, awareness of consumption patterns, attitudes towards F&V, promotion of F&V consumption by parents and F&V intake at school were explored. Transcripts were analysed using Nvivo 2.0.

Findings

Several factors that are likely to increase F&V consumption of the participants were identified, such as preferences, modeling of F&V consumption by teachers and parents and availability of F&V in ready‐to‐eat form at home and school. Although both children and parents favoured activities to promote F&V at school, most parents were not willing to participate in these activities.

Research limitations/implications

The present study obtains information from a broad perspective, and not from a representative sample.

Practical implications

This article is a useful source for health promotion planners that are developing food‐related interventions for children.

Originality/value

Information on factors that influence children's F&V consumption is usually acquired through parents. It is questionable whether parents are aware of the factors that influence their children's food choice. Therefore this study combined information gathered among parents with information gathered directly among children.

Details

Health Education, vol. 106 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 June 2012

Siet J. Sijtsema, Machiel J. Reinders, Sabine R.C.H. Hiller and M. Dolors Guàrdia

To better understand fruit consumption and its determinants this paper aims to explore the relationship between the consumption of different types of fruit and other snacks and…

1977

Abstract

Purpose

To better understand fruit consumption and its determinants this paper aims to explore the relationship between the consumption of different types of fruit and other snacks and consumer taste preferences for sweet, salty and sour is explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Respondents (n=2,083) from Poland, Greece, Spain and The Netherlands filled out an online questionnaire in which the consumption of fresh fruit, sweet snacks, salty snacks, orange juice and dried fruit was measured as well as consumer self‐reported taste preferences and personal orientations towards health, convenience, price and routine behaviours.

Findings

A total of 29 percent of the total sample preferred salty tastes, whereas 21 percent preferred sweet tastes; 1 percent preferred sour tastes, and 39 percent indicated no preference. In contrast with the expectation that people who preferred sweet tastes consume more fruits and fruit products, the results imply that consumers with a sour taste preference consume more fruits and fruit products. In addition, consumers with a sour taste preference seem to be less convenience‐oriented and have more routine behaviours with regard to fruit. In contrast, consumers with a sweet taste preference eat more chocolate bars and are more convenience‐oriented.

Research limitations/implications

The self‐reported measurement of taste preferences requires further justification to be used as a measurement instrument, e.g. formulation of the items, different cultures and linkage with preferences based on sensory testing.

Practical implications

These findings show that the sweet tooth hypothesis is much more complicated if we consider not only consumption, but also self‐reported taste preferences.

Originality/value

The paper explores self‐reported taste preferences, the sweet tooth hypotheses and fruit consumption.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 114 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

Emma Dresler, Dean Whitehead and Aimee Mather

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…

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

Health Education, vol. 117 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 October 2022

Rungsaran Wongprawmas, Vilma Xhakollari, Roberta Spadoni, Britta Renner and Maurizio Canavari

This paper aims to examine the effect of a food-inspired multimedia intervention on children’s fruits and vegetables (F&V) consumption in a real-life setting during lunch.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effect of a food-inspired multimedia intervention on children’s fruits and vegetables (F&V) consumption in a real-life setting during lunch.

Design

Children in an elementary school in Bologna (Italy) in third, fourth and fifth grade, aged between 9 and 12 years old, were examined (N = 171). Two different types of messages (generic and specific) were used to test message-tailoring in two separate intervention groups and one control group. The two intervention groups (classes) were presented with multimedia messages during an English lesson before lunchtime, and their eating behavior during lunch at school was observed. All children were served the first and second course, vegetables and fruit during lunchtime. Data was analyzed with R 3.4.2. Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis and ANOVA tests were used to test for group differences, ordered logistic regression for modelling fruit and vegetable consumption.

Findings

The results show that children receiving a specific message targeting F&V consumed more fruit than the other two study groups. No effect on vegetable consumption was observed. Results from an ordered logit model support the notion that the multimedia message impacted fruit intake in the specific message group when taking other variables into account, such as F&V consumption and availability at home and children’s attitude toward F&V.

Originality

While many studies have considered a group of intervention for understanding the effect of multimedia, this study is focused only on the effect of a message (generic or specific). Moreover, participants, children, were not informed that they were participating in a study on fruit and vegetables consumption, and thus were following their daily routine.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

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