Fruit and vegetable intakes, associated characteristics and perceptions of current and future availability in Dutch university students

Abstract

Dutch university students do not consume enough F&V. Future efforts that aim to promote students' F&V intakes should consider the differences between subgroups based on demographic and lifestyle characteristics and that affordable F&V in the university environment might be an effective strategy.

Vegetable Consumption and Factors Associated with Increased Intake among College Students: A Scoping Review of the Last 10 Years

“…The majority (70.4%) of the studies focused on evaluating elements of the whole diet of participants. Thirteen studies were specific regarding the consumption of fruits and vegetables [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32], while only three studies were exclusively focused on vegetables [33,34,35]. Five studies investigated adherence to the Mediterranean diet and its relation with the consumption of specific food categories, such as vegetables [36,37,38,39,40].…”

“…The most usual instrument for assessing food consumption was the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), used by twenty-eight studies [19,21,23,27,32,34,37,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60]. Two of them combined the FFQ with 24-h recalls [27,59].…”

“…Four studies divided vegetables into different categories: green, yellow, other vegetables, and salads [60], sautéed leafy greens, leafy greens, nonleafy cooked vegetables and nonleafy raw vegetables [21]; fresh, frozen, canned and stewed [22]; and fresh, tinned, legumes and potatoes [29]. Finally, eight studies included different forms of vegetables to create a single variable in their analyses: green-, red- or yellow-coloured vegetables [64]; vegetables without tubers, roots and bananas [48], fresh, canned or juice [25]; vegetables and juices [85]; raw, cooked, canned or frozen [77]; coloured and other types of vegetables, mushrooms and sea vegetables [63]; fresh, cooked or frozen, as well as green salad and did not count potatoes [31]; and vegetable side dishes or salads [32]. It is clear that the complexity of defining vegetables either by botanical or culinary descriptors makes it difficult to provide an aggregated analysis.…”

“…In Japan, late midpoint of sleep was significantly negatively associated with the energy-adjusted intake of vegetables [63]. Additionally, in a Dutch study, vegetable intake was lower among students who were non-Dutch, living in the family home, not adhering to physical activity guidelines and moderate and heavy alcohol drinkers [32].…”

Changing young people’s food-related behaviour: a socio-ecological perspective

“…Five articles (9)(10)(11)(12)(13) in this issue of Public Health Nutrition highlight a range of issues related to the food environment and educational settings, and it is worthwhile to consider how the results of the different studies could contribute to the ongoing discourse about the food environment in and around schools and how individuals act in and interact with this environment.…”