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This paper's aim is to assess vegetable soup intake and its contribution to total vegetable intake among mothers of Portuguese schoolchildren as well as to examine the association between relative vegetable soup intake and sociodemographic characteristics.

A cross‐sectional survey was carried out in Portugal as part of the Pro Children study. In total 1,673 women, mothers of 11‐13 year old children, took part in the study. The vegetable intake and sociodemographic characteristics were collected with a self‐administered questionnaire in which a precoded 24‐hour recall was applied. The analysed sociodemographic characteristics were the number of people and composition of household, educational level, social class and region of residence. The associations between preferential or exclusive consumer mothers of vegetable soup (i.e. ≥50 per cent of total vegetable intake) and sociodemographic characteristics were analysed by a logistic regression model.

The mean intake of vegetable soup was 76.1 g/d and its contribution to total vegetable intake was approximately 45 per cent. The percentage of mothers that were preferential or exclusive consumers of vegetable soup was 41 per cent. Preferential or exclusive vegetable soup intake was less likely among mothers when the number of people in the household was less than four (vs 4; OR: 0.734, 95 per cent CI: 0.577‐0.934) and that did not live with their spouse/partner (OR: 0.617, 95 per cent CI: 0.424‐0.878).

The paper focuses on the consumption of vegetable soup, a traditional culinary preparation among Portuguese people. Also, it identifies factors associated with its consumption.

Young adults frequently engage in sub-optimal dietary behaviours, such as inadequate intakes of fruits and vegetables and excessive consumption of take-out meals. Theory-based interventions are suggested to promote dietary change. The transtheoretical model is an example that stages an individual’s readiness to change behaviours as precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance, and includes a series of processes that help people move between stages. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether self-reported usual dietary intakes of fruits and vegetables and take-out foods differ by reported stage-of-change.

Cross-sectional data from 250 overweight young adults, aged 18-35 years, who enrolled in a lifestyle intervention to prevent weight gain are analysed. Participant’s stage-of-change for increasing fruit and vegetable intakes and reducing take-out foods is determined using staging algorithms. This is compared with self-reported dietary intakes over the past month using a food frequency questionnaire. Differences in intakes and variety by stage-of-change are compared for fruits, vegetables and take-out foods.

Take-out foods differed between stages (p < 0.0001), with lower weekly intakes in action (309 g) and maintenance (316 g) compared with preparation (573 g). Daily fruit intakes and variety scores varied by stage-of-change (p < 0.0001), being highest for action and maintenance (261 g and 263 g, respectively, and variety scores of 1 and 2) compared with precontemplation, contemplation and preparation (all = 100 g and 0 for variety). Daily vegetable consumption and variety scores differed by stage (p = 0.009 and p = 0.025, respectively) being highest for action/maintenance (204 g and 2 for variety) versus precontemplation and preparation (<110 g daily and Variety 1).

The finding of no differences in intakes between precontemplation, contemplation or preparation stages implies that the adoption of the dietary behaviours is not a continuum but a move from pre-action to actioning the target intakes. This means that for planning health promotion and dietary counselling, assigning people to the three different pre-action stages may be unnecessary.

This study is the first to examine the congruence of self-reported readiness to change behaviour with dietary intakes of take-out foods as well as variety of fruit and vegetables in overweight young adults.

Previous research has shown that in contemporary societies, women have a healthier dietary intake than men. However, no research has examined how this gender gap develops over the long term. The present study examined how gender differences in fresh vegetable intake frequency have evolved from 1979 to 2017 in Finland and whether differences are affected by age or educational level.

The data were derived from annually repeated, nationally representative “Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population” and “Regional Health and Well-being (RHW)” surveys on the health habits of the Finnish population. The dataset is a time series of repeated cross-sectional surveys. In total, the data sample comprised 161,996 Finns aged 20–64 years. Descriptive methods and logistic regression were used for the analysis.

During 1979–2017, the prevalence of daily vegetable intake increased from 12 to 35% among men and from 18 to 56% among women. Thus, the magnitude of the gap between genders doubled across the study period. The increased vegetable intake was partly explained by the changing education and age structures of society. Potential explanations and avenues for future research are also discussed. Policy implications depend on whether the findings are interpreted as a case of health differences or health inequality.

This study used a long time series to analyse how gender differences in vegetable intake have evolved in a Nordic welfare state context. It showed that the gap in fresh vegetable intake between men and women has widened.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of an educational intervention to increase vegetable consumption by university students.

This study is an open, parallel randomized controlled trial for 25 weeks. University students aged 18-24 years were divided into an intervention group (n=52) and a control group (n=52). Vegetable intake was assessed using a questionnaire.

On investigation, the results indicated that the vegetable intake of the intervention group was well maintained at the end of the study, whereas that of the control group was significantly decreased by the seasonal change. This research showed that using three educational projects could significantly improve the vegetable consumption of university students.

These results suggest that the educational approach is a promising method to improve the vegetable consumption status, particularly the consumption of green and yellow vegetables, by university students.

This parallel randomized controlled study investigated intervention via educational approaches, including a lecture on the nutritional significance of vegetable intake, a tour of an agricultural farm, and learning of cooking skills, focusing on increasing the consumption of vegetables by university students. Although there have been many intervention studies aimed at improving intake of vegetables in the world, there have been no intervention studies on the vegetable intake of young adults in Japan.

Diet is recognized as a possible potential factor in migraine pathogenesis. Limited evidence exists on the effect of diet on pediatric migraine, so this paper aims to investigate the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and odds of migraine in children.

The authors conducted a case-control study in tertiary Sina hospital, Tehran, Iran. A hundred children with migraine as case group and 190 sex-matched healthy controls were included in this study. Definite diagnosis of migraine was based on 2018 international classification of headache disorder 3 (ICHD3) criteria. Demographic and anthropometric characteristics were collected. Common dietary intake of participants was obtained using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire.

Children in the migraine group had significantly higher BMI and age compared with the control group (p-value = <0.01). After adjustment for age, gender, BMI and total energy intake, a significant association between higher intake of vegetables in second tertile (OR: 0.47; CI: 0.24-0.92), fruits in third tertile (OR: 0.31; CI:0.14-0.69) and fiber in fourth quartile (OR:0.28; CI:0.095-0.85) was obtained. Controlling for all confounders in Model 3, the odds of migraine, decreased by 50 per cent and 70 per cent as the consumption of vegetables and fruits increased, in the second tertile of vegetables (p-value = 0.04) and the third tertile of fruits (p-value = <0.01).

The findings confirm a plausible protective role of dietary fruits and vegetables against the risk of migraine in children, which can be attributed to the probable effect of dietary fiber.

Fruits and vegetables (FVs) are a good source of substances that contributed to bone health. However, the relation of FVs consumption with inflammation and bone biomarkers is inconsistent. Thus, this paper aims to assess the association of FVs intake with inflammation and bone biomarkers in older adults.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 178 older adults in Tehran, with a mean age of 67.04. Biochemical measurements including serum osteocalcin, high sensitivity c-reactive protein, 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH) D, parathormone and urine terminal telopeptide of Type I collagen (u-CTx) was done. The intake of FVs was calculated using a validated quantitative food frequency questionnaire.

Pearson correlation coefficients showed a positive relation between serum osteocalcin and total vegetables (r = 0.167, p = 0.026), juices group (r = 0.155, p = 0.035), starchy vegetables (r = 0.205, p = 0.006) and other vegetable group (r = 0.161, p = 0.032) even after controlling of potential confounders. Analysis of covariance showed that total vegetable were significantly associated with serum osteocalcin (p = 0.041) and PTH levels (p = 0.028). Additionally, no evidence of a significant relationship between total fruit intake and test variables was observed. However, subgroup analyses demonstrated a significant association between citrus fruits and serum 25(OH) D (p = 0.017). A significant relation between starchy vegetable and urine CTx-I was reported (p = 0.016). Moreover, other vegetable subgroup was strongly associated with serum osteocalcin (p = 0.003).

The results of this paper may provide insight for clinical interventions and also important to make policy for prevention or easing bone disorders and general inflammation related to fruit and vegetable intake.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of liver disease worldwide. The purpose of this study is to assess the possible association between habitual intake of allium vegetables and NAFLD risk.

In this study, 196 cases of NAFLD and 803 age-matched controls were enrolled from the same clinic. Dietary intakes were assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Consumption of allium vegetables, including raw garlic and onions, were calculated and considered as grams/day in all participants.

Participants in the highest tertile of allium vegetable intake had 64% lower risk of NAFLD compared with those in the lowest tertile of the allium vegetables intake (odds ratio [OR]: 0.35; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.23-0.51; p < 0.001). After controlling for potential confounders, there was no significant change in this inverse association (OR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.22-0.56; p < 0.001).

This study for the first time showed that higher consumption of allium vegetables was associated with lower risk of NAFLD. The results did not change when the authors adjusted the analysis for the known risk factors of the disease, which indicate the independency of the association.

The aim of the present nutritional survey was to assess the food consumption pattern of 183 Indian preschool children (four to five years) in Fatehabad district of Haryana.

Data regarding food frequency, myths and intake were collected with the help of questionnaires and structured interviews. Food consumption patterns were recorded using a 24‐hour recall for three consecutive days.

The food frequency pattern indicated that wheat was the most accepted cereal among almost all the families and the consumption of pulses was weekly or on alternate days. They consumed roots and tubers frequently but the consumption of green leafy vegetables, fruits and other vegetables depended on the availability only. Most of the families consumed buffalo's milk (93 per cent) and desi ghee (73 per cent) daily. More than half of the respondents' mothers believed bajra, maize (corn), some pulses, bathua (Chenopodium album) and fenugreek leaves, onion, garlic, ginger, desi ghee and sweets are hot foods. According to the 24‐hour recall method for three consecutive days, the daily mean intake of all foodstuffs, namely, cereals, pulses, green leafy vegetables, roots and tubers, other vegetables, fruits, fats and oils, milk and milk products and sugar and jaggery was lower than their respective recommended dietary intake in the daily diets of preschool children.

On the basis of findings of this study, nutrition policy makers can plan the strategies for improving the nutritional status of preschool children who are an important segment of the Indian population.

Despite the well-known positive effects of fruits and vegetables, their consumption in many countries is lower than those recommended. This study aims to systematically examine the effects of community-based interventions on fruits and vegetables consumption in adults.

To collect relevant publications, the authors searched electronic databases including PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science from January 2000 to July 2021. Considering random models, this study analyzed the data using weighted mean differences (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Among 1,621 retrieved publications, 21 articles met the inclusion criteria. The overall effect size demonstrated that, at the end of the trials, the educational interventions increased the consumption of aggregated fruits and vegetables (WMD: 0.55 serving/day, 95%CI: 0.34, 0.77), and vegetables (WMD: 0.15, 95%CI: 0.09, 0.21, I2: 33.2%; p = 0.103) in the intervention groups, compared to the control groups.

The subgroup analyses that were based on the type of interventions (face-to-face education compared to online interventions), location (home-based compared to the other types of interventions) and duration (24 weeks and higher) of interventions, and accompanied financial support reduced between-group heterogeneity. An efficient interventional program on increasing fruits and vegetables consumption should be part of a multi-component project.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no systematic review and meta-analysis has provided a summary of the effects of community-based interventions on fruits and vegetables consumption in adult populations, and there is no fixed conclusion that could be drawn in this regard.

Despite its health benefits, vegetable consumption is low in urban Nigeria. Interventions have been successful in increasing urban Nigerians' vegetable intake in the home environment, but interventions doing so for popular out-of-home consumption are lacking. This study aimed to design, implement and assess an intervention to increase the vegetable intake of urban Nigerians through street foods.

A quasi-experimental design was applied in Lagos, Nigeria. During the intervention, 12 trained street food vendors (SFVs) actively promoted the health benefits of vegetables to their customers (using marketing statements and posters) and provided the option to buy an additional green leafy vegetables (GLVs) side dish to their meal. Purchases were observed, and a survey was conducted before and during the intervention to measure perceived meal quality and satisfaction. Six to eight weeks after the intervention, a mystery shopper visited the vendor to assess if they were still selling additional GLVs.

Almost half (46%) of the 1,506 observed customers bought additional GLVs during the intervention. Both at baseline (N = 452) and during intervention (N = 564), meal satisfaction was high. Users were on average more educated and older than non-users. Most vendors did not perceive the sale of additional GLVs as additional work. Six to eight weeks after the intervention, nine vendors (75%) were still selling additional GLVs.

This study showed that SFVs informing consumers on the potential health benefits of vegetables and offering these vegetables in street food dishes at a commercially viable price is an interesting option to increase vegetable intake.