Personal, social and environmental predictors of daily fruit and vegetable intake in 11-year-old children in nine European countries

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 62; no. 7; pp. 834 - 841
• Main Authors: Bourdeaudhuij, I. de, Velde, S. te, Brug, J, Due, P, Wind, M, Sandvik, C, Maes, L, Wolf, A, Perez Rodrigo, C, Yngve, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-07-2008; Nature Publishing; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Child; child nutrition; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - physiology; Children; Children & youth; Clinical Nutrition; Cooking; correlate; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cross-Sectional Studies; Culinary Arts and Meal Science; Demographic aspects; determinant; Diet; Diet - psychology; Diet - trends; environmental factors; Epidemiologi; Epidemiology; Europe; Feeding Behavior - psychology; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Folkhälsovetenskap; Food consumption; Food intake; Food Preferences - psychology; Fruit; fruit and vegetable consumption; fruit products; Fruits; fruits (food); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health aspects; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health promotion; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Internal Medicine; Male; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Måltidskunskap; nutrient intake; Nutrition; Nutrition Surveys; Näringslära; original-article; Parent-Child Relations; parental role; plant-based foods; prediction; Predictive Value of Tests; Pro children; Product/Service Evaluations; Public Health; questionnaires; school children; Self Efficacy; Social aspects; social behavior; Social factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; vegetable products; Vegetables; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Europe; Pro children; fruit and vegetable consumption; health promotion; correlate; determinant; Human; Consumption; Vegetables; Fruit; Nutrition; Countries; Health promotion; Determinant; Prediction; Metabolic diseases; European; Daily; Environment; Child
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602794

Objective: To investigate potential personal, social and physical environmental predictors of daily fruit intake and daily vegetable intake in 11-year-old boys and girls in nine European countries. Subjects: The total sample size was 13 305 (90.4% participation rate). Results: Overall, 43.2% of the children reported to eat fruit every day, 46.1% reported to eat vegetables every day. Daily fruit intake and daily vegetable intake was mainly associated with knowledge of the national recommendations, positive self-efficacy, positive liking and preference, parental modeling and demand and bringing fruit to school (odds ratio between 1.40 and 2.42, P<0.02). These factors were associated fairly consistently with daily fruit intake across all nine European countries, implying that a rather uniform intervention strategy to promote fruit can be used across Europe. For vegetables, the pattern was, however, less consistent. Differences between countries in cooking and preparing vegetables might be responsible for this larger diversity. Conclusions: This study showed that especially a combination of personal and social factors is related to daily fruit and vegetable intake in schoolchildren. This shows that a comprehensive multilevel intervention strategy based upon a series of individual and social correlates will be most promising in the promotion of daily fruit and vegetable intake in children.