Fruit and Vegetable Intake in a Sample of 11-Year-Old Children in 9 European Countries: The Pro Children Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background/Aims: An adequate fruit and vegetable intake provides essential nutrients and nutritive compounds and is considered an important part of a healthy lifestyle. No simple instrument has been available for the assessment of fruit and vegetable intake as well as its determinants in school-aged children applicable in different European countries. Within the Pro Children Project, such an instrument has been developed. This paper describes the cross-sectional survey in 11-year-olds in 9 countries. Methods: The cross-sectional survey used nationally, and in 2 countries regionally, representative samples of schools and classes. The questionnaires, including a precoded 24-hour recall component and a food frequency part, were completed in the classroom. Data were treated using common syntax files for portion sizes and for merging of vegetable types into four subgroups. Results: The results show that the fruit and vegetable intake in amounts and choice were highly diverse in the 9 participating countries. Vegetable intake was in general lower than fruit intake, boys consumed less fruit and vegetables than girls did. The highest total intake according to the 24-hour recall was found in Austria and Portugal, the lowest in Spain and Iceland. Conclusion: The fruit and vegetable intake in 11-year-old children was in all countries far from reaching population goals and food-based dietary guidelines on national and international levels.

Associations between self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption and home availability of fruit and vegetables among Greek primary-school children

“…The consent rate achieved in the present work was considerably lower than the rates reported in similar studies such as the multi-national Pro-Children study (9) . The low consent rate limits our ability to generalise our findings beyond our sample.…”

Role of free school lunch in the associations between family-environmental factors and children's fruit and vegetable intake in four European countries

“…from earlier studies conducted in these countries (4,29,37) . Children in the Nordic countries more often reported that their daily intake of vegetables included salads, grated vegetables or raw vegetables, whereas a higher proportion of Dutch children reported a daily intake of cooked vegetables.…”

General parenting styles are not strongly associated with fruit and vegetable intake and social–environmental correlates among 11-year-old children in four countries in Europe

“…A detailed description of the Pro Children project, including the sampling and data collection procedure, is given elsewhere (1,18) .…”

“…Recent research on fruit and vegetable (F&V) intakes among 11-year-olds in nine European countries revealed that intakes were below recommended levels in all countries (1) . Recent reviews suggest that parental and family social-environmental factors such as family socioeconomic status, parental modelling and home availability may be relevant mediators of intakes and should therefore be taken into account in intervention development (2)(3)(4) .…”