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To assess whether the amount of fruits and vegetables consumed depends on the serving size or on how often fruits and vegetables are eaten.
Estimation of the weight of serving sizes and the number of fruits and vegetables eaten daily, using a validated food diary method.
Free-living men and women participating in the Norfolk arm of the European Pro...
Context in source publication
Similar publications
This paper describes the development and efficacy of a diet quality index (DQI) for China.
The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents motivated the selection of 10 DQI components. These components were weighted and assigned cut-offs and point schemes based on the Chinese Food Guide Pagoda, Chinese and/or international dietary reference values. Th...
To analyze the association between different anthropometric variables and vitamin D status in a group of Spanish schoolchildren.
Study subjects were 102 children aged 9-13 years. Records were made of their height, body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist and hip measurements (to determine the quantity of visceral or abdominal fat), and the thickne...
Objectives
The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the coverage of national nutrition surveys in the 53 countries monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe and identify gaps in provision, (2) to describe relevant survey attributes and (3) to check whether energy and nutrients are reported with a view to...
To evaluate a two-page food frequency list for use as a Dietary Targets Monitor in large scale surveys to quantify consumptions of the key foods groups targeted in health promotion.
Intakes of fruit and vegetables, starchy foods and fish estimated from a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) were compared with a short food frequency list (th...
Citations
... Therefore, we did not estimate total energy intake or perform energy-adjustment. Nevertheless, the using food frequency questionnaire to assess dietary patterns have been demonstrated to be reliable and valid measures in several studies [36,[62][63][64][65]. Third, although we controlled for several lifestyle factors, the possibility of residual confounding cannot be excluded due to the observational nature of the study. ...
Background
Aging is a dynamic and heterogeneous process that may better be captured by trajectories of aging biomarkers. Biological age has been advocated as a better biomarker of aging than chronological age, and plant-based dietary patterns have been found to be linked to aging. However, the associations of biological age trajectories with mortality and plant-based dietary patterns remained unclear.
Methods
Using group-based trajectory modeling approach, we identified distinctive aging trajectory groups among 12,784 participants based on a recently developed biological aging measure acquired at four-time points within an 8-year period. We then examined associations between aging trajectories and quintiles of plant-based dietary patterns assessed by overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthful PDI (hPDI), and unhealthful PDI (uPDI) among 10,191 participants who had complete data on dietary intake, using multivariable multinomial logistics regression adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyles factors. Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to investigate the association between aging trajectories and all-cause mortality.
Results
We identified three latent classes of accelerated aging trajectories: slow aging, medium-degree, and high-degree accelerated aging trajectories. Participants who had higher PDI or hPDI had lower odds of being in medium-degree (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.65, 0.86 for PDI; OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.62, 0.85 for hPDI) or high-degree (OR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.86 for PDI; OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.44, 0.88 for hPDI) accelerated aging trajectories. Participants in the highest quintile of uPDI were more likely to be in medium-degree (OR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.48, 1.99) or high-degree (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.21, 2.38) accelerated aging trajectories. With a mean follow-up time of 8.40 years and 803 (6.28%) participants died by the end of follow-up, we found that participants in medium-degree (HR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.29, 1.89) or high-degree (HR = 3.72, 95% CI: 2.73, 5.08) accelerated aging trajectory groups had higher risks of death than those in the slow aging trajectory.
Conclusions
We identified three distinctive aging trajectories in a large Asian cohort and found that adopting a plant-based dietary pattern, especially when rich in healthful plant foods, was associated with substantially lowered pace of aging.
... Of note, although the dietary recommendations of WHO were generated based on the portion size of vegetable and fruit intake, there is evidence that it could be more appropriate to differentiate high or low consumption of vegetables and fruits by using the frequency of intake, rather than portion size. 24 Nighttime sleep duration in early pregnancy was evaluated at enrolment by inquiring how long the participants slept per night (hours) in the past week using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire, 25 which has been validated in Chinese pregnant women. 26 Body mass index in early pregnancy was calculated as weight (kg) divided by the square of height (meters), which were both measured by trained staff at enrolment. ...
Objective
To examine the association of a combined healthy lifestyle in early pregnancy with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk.
Design, setting and population
A Chinese prospective cohort study with 6980 pregnant women.
Methods
Individual modifiable lifestyle factors were assessed in early pregnancy and a combined lifestyle score was derived from the sum of the lifestyle factors, with a higher score indicating a healthier lifestyle. The association of a combined healthy lifestyle with GDM risk was examined.
Main outcome measures
Gestational diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in middle pregnancy according to the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group criteria or diagnoses in medical records.
Results
Overall, 501 (7.2%) pregnant women were diagnosed with GDM. Being physically active (total energy expenditure in upper three quintiles, i.e. ≥100.1 metabolic equivalent of task [MET]-hours/week; odds ratio [OR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63–0.92), healthy diet (total intake of vegetables and fruits ≥5 times/day; OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.59–0.94), sufficient sleep (night-time sleep duration ≥7 hours/night; OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.48–0.90) and healthy weight (early-pregnancy BMI <24.0 kg/m2; OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.46–0.71) were associated with lower GDM risk. The GDM risk decreased linearly across the combined lifestyle score (Ptrend <0.001): women with 2, 3 and 4 lifestyle factors compared with those with 0–1 factor had 38% (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.46–0.84), 57% (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.31–0.58) and 66% (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.22–0.52) lower risks of GDM, respectively.
Conclusion
A healthy lifestyle in early pregnancy was associated with a substantially lower GDM risk.
... The food groups included whole/refined grains, fresh vegetables, mushrooms/algae, fresh fruits, vegetable/animal oils, fish, soybeans, garlic, nuts, tea, and sugar. Food frequency questionnaires were used to collect dietary data [19][20][21]. We gave a score of 0, 0.5, or 1 for most food items and 0 or 1 for the three items related to staple foods and primary cooking oils. ...
This study aims to explore the interaction between a Chinese version of the Mediterranean–DASH intervention for neurodegenerative delay (cMIND) diet and indoor air pollution and its effect on depression among older adults. This cohort study used 2011–2018 data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Participants included 2724 adults aged 65 and older without depression. The Chinese version of the Mediterranean–DASH intervention for neurodegenerative delay (cMIND) diet scores ranged from 0 to 12 based on validated food frequency questionnaire responses. Depression was measured using the Phenotypes and eXposures Toolkit. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to explore the associations, and the analysis was stratified using the cMIND diet scores. A total of 2724 participants (54.3% males and 45.9% 80 years and older) at baseline were included. Living with severe indoor pollution was associated with a 40% increase in the risk of depression (HR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.82) compared to living without indoor pollution. Indoor air pollution exposure was significantly associated with cMIND diet scores. Participants with a lower cMIND diet score (HR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.24, 2.38) had a greater association with severe pollution than those with a higher cMIND diet score. The cMIND diet may alleviate depression caused by indoor pollution among older adults.
... Second, the questionnaire included only the frequency of food intake without the amount of food intake. The frequency may not completely match the total intake, but intake frequency may be more important than the intake amount [57]. Third, this study was conducted on older Chinese adults, and the results cannot be extrapolated to other races. ...
(1) Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between dietary patterns and depression in Chinese older adults. (2) Method: A cohort study was conducted on the relationship between dietary patterns and the risk of depression in older adults based on the China Health and Longevity Longitudinal Survey (CLHLS) from 2011 to 2014. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns. The relationship between dietary patterns and the risk of depression after four years was examined using logistic regression, and subgroup analysis was carried out to determine whether the association differed by gender. (3) Results: A total of 2873 older adults were included in our cohort study. Three dietary patterns were identified: vegetable–egg–bean–milk pattern, meat–fish pattern, and salt-preserved vegetable–garlic pattern. The vegetable–egg–beans–milk pattern was negatively correlated with the risk of geriatric depression development (adjusted OR = 0.65 (95%CI: 0.49–0.87)), and the salt-preserved vegetable–garlic pattern was positively associated with aged depression risk (adjusted OR = 1.33 (95CI: 1.00–1.77)). The meat–fish pattern was not associated with the risk of depression in older adults. These associations were consistent in both men and women. (4) Conclusions: In this cohort study, the vegetable–egg–beans–milk dietary pattern was associated with lower risk of depression, while the salt-preserved vegetable–garlic dietary pattern was associated with higher risk of depression, and there were no gender differences in these associations.
... One may identify pineapple, mango, jackfruit, banana, melon, watermelon, coconut in the serving, Fig. 2 c). A typical serving of many of the fresh fruit is considered as 150 g of slices or pulp ( Ashfield-Watt et al., 2004 ). Many governmental agencies have data bases on the nutritional contents of fruits and vegetables, such as in: Food Data Central, US Department of Agriculture ( U.S. Department of Agriculture 2021 ). ...
... Solar powered dryers with grid-connected PV systems can replace such dryers, as proposed in Section 6 of this work. Here each 30 g of the dried fruit slices in a) represents nearly 150 g of the fresh produce slices considered as a "serving size " ( Ashfield-Watt et al., 2004 ). Thus, 120 g of dried slices seen in b) being hydrated in 1 L of water, produces 4 servings, each one as shown in c) in 250 mL of water. ...
... However, this requires continuous monitoring and quality control to maintain the certification. Further, the 2 + 3 or 3 + 2 daily servings of fruits or vegetables discussed in ( Ashfield-Watt et al., 2004 ), does not stop innovative ideas of introducing servings of a mix of dried fruits and vegetables benefitting from their combined nutritional contents, dietary fibers ( Siriwattananon, 2016 ) and antioxidants ( Shetty et al., 2013 ) to build and maintain a healthy body. ...
Nayarit state on the Mexican Pacific Coast has a land area of 27,850 km² and a coastline of 290 km. The state represents 1.4% of the national territory, of which 438,400 hectares are currently dedicated for agricultural use. Nayarit is home to 1.23 million people, and produces tropical fruits such as mango, 316,750 metric tons and soursop 15,400 tons (May-July); pineapple, 34,250 tons (March-April); bananas 27,800 and jackfruit, 23,250 tons. Presently these add up to a total of 500,000 tons of yearly tropical fruit harvest amidst an increasing public awareness that these hold essential nutritional ingredients to help the population maintain its health and well-being. However, the water content in the produce of typically above 80% w/w, leads to bacterial and fungal activity. Consequently, a notable fraction of the produce perishes in a short period of time before they reach the consumer. Globally, such loss is 1.3 billion tons every year, as defined by the food loss index (FLI) and the food waste index (FWI). According to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-12 of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), both FLI and FWI should be reduced to one-half its current levels by the year 2030. To meet this goal, a significant fraction of the farm produce may be set apart for drying in solar powered dryers at the farm-site. With an aperture of 36 m² each, letting in UV filtered solar radiation and with an electric grid-integrated PV system, we estimate that 3500 of such dryers can produce nearly 480,000 kg of dried farm produce per day. This production represents 25% of the harvest, recovering also a significant amount of potable water released from the produce while drying. Thus, rural areas would produce dried farm products utilizing renewable energy; supply these worldwide, and benefit themselves from sustainable development.
... fresh dragon fruit. This amount is easily achievable as part of a normal diet [∼2 out of 5 of the United Kingdom's 5-A-Day fresh fruit portions (29)]. At this stage, it remains difficult to compare our findings with other work due to the lack of RCTs investigating the effects of betalain or dragon fruit on vascular function. ...
Background
Betalains are natural red color pigments abundant in red-fleshed dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus). Recent research has shown that dragon fruit consumption may help improve blood glucose and lipid profile. However, investigations of its cardioprotective properties in human trials, especially in nutritionally achievable amounts, remain non-existent.
Objectives
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute and short-term consumption of dragon fruit on vascular function in a healthy population.
Methods
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial was conducted in 19 young, healthy, non-smoking men and women assigned to consume 24 g whole dragon fruit powder (33 mg betalains) or nutrient matched placebo, daily for 14 days. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD), arterial stiffness and blood pressure (BP) were measured at 0 h, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h and finally on 14 days after daily consumption.
Results
A total of 18 participants completed the trial. Dragon fruit consumption significantly improved acute FMD at 2 h (+0.8 ± 0.3%, P = 0.01), 3 h (+1.0 ± 0.3%, P = 0.001) and at 4 h (+1.3 ± 0.4%, P < 0.001) post-consumption versus placebo. This effect was sustained up until 14 days (+1.3 ± 0.2%, P < 0.001). Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was significantly reduced acutely at 3 h (–0.5 ± 0.2 m/s, P = 0.003) whereas augmentation index (AIx) was also improved after 14 days (–7.0 ± 3.3%, P = 0.02) when compared to placebo. No differences were found in either peripheral or central BP across all time points.
Conclusions
Acute and short-term consumption of dragon fruit in dietary achievable amounts improved endothelial function and arterial stiffness in healthy individuals. This implies that regular dragon fruit consumption may have a meaningful impact on cardiovascular disease risk likely due to the high betalain content.
... [26][27][28] In addition, previous studies also showed that frequency of intake is more important than portion size to distinguish between high and low consumption of fruits and vegetables. 29 The CLHLS recorded the intake frequency as "almost everyday" or "≥1 time/week" or "≥1 time/ month" or "occasionally" or "rarely or never" for most food groups, including legume, garlic, nut, tea, salt-preserved vegetables, sugar, eggs, fish, meat, and dairy products. The CLHLS recorded the intake frequency of fruits and fresh vegetables as "almost everyday" or "quite often" or "occasionally" or "rarely or never". ...
... But the frequency of intake may be more important than portion size to distinguish between high and low consumption of fruits and vegetables. 29 A further complication is that our food questionnaire may not be standardized enough to be comparable with other nutrition studies and face challenges translating into nutrition recommendations. Diet questionnaires are notoriously difficult to be made generalizable across cultures and populations. ...
Background
Air pollution is a risk factor for poor cognitive function, while a plant-based dietary pattern is associated with better cognitive function. We aimed to explore their interaction with cognitive function among older adults.
Methods
We used a prospective cohort of old individuals, including 6525 participants of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), aged 65-110 years and with normal cognition at baseline. Air pollution measurement was derived using satellite-derived annual average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations based on residential locations. Plant-based diet index (PDI) was calculated using survey responses to assess the dietary pattern. Repeated measures of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were utilized to assess cognitive function. We applied the Cox proportional hazard regression to explore the associations and further stratified the analysis by PDI.
Findings
During a median of 5·6-year follow-up, 1537 (23·6%) out of 6525 participants with normal cognition at baseline developed poor cognitive function (MMSE <18). Living in areas with the highest quintile of cumulative PM2.5 was associated with a 46% increase in the risk of developing poor cognitive function (hazard ratio (HR): 1·46, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1·20, 1·77), compared to those living in areas with the lowest quintile. We observed a significant interaction between cumulative PM2.5 and PDI (p-interaction: 0·04), with the corresponding associations of cumulative PM2.5 being more pronounced among participants with lower PDI (HR: 1·68, 95% CI: 1·26, 2·24) than those with higher PDI (HR: 1·28, 95% CI: 0·98, 1·68).
Interpretation
Plant-based dietary pattern may attenuate detrimental impacts of PM2.5 on cognitive function among older adults. Adherence to the plant-based dietary pattern could be used to prevent adverse neurological effects caused by air pollution, especially in developing regions.
... Thus the effect size of nutritional variables, for example, the 3.73 units higher well-being seen in secondary school children consuming five or more portions of fruits and vegetables per day, compared with those consuming none, really serves to highlight the importance of nutrition and supports the UK public health advice for the whole population to eat '5-a-day' fruits and vegetables. 26 Although the proportion of children eating 5-a-day in this survey is relatively high in comparison to national data, 27 the majority of children (more than 7 in 10 in both primary and secondary school groups) are not meeting the 5-a-day target and approximately 1 in 10 children reported no fruit and vegetables intake. Uptake of the 5-a-day message is known to vary with socioeconomic status, and difficulties exist in some groups of the population in accessing these foods, so there remainsscope for improvement which needs to be addressed at a national policy level. ...
Background
Poor mental well-being is a major issue for young people and is likely to have long-term negative consequences. The contribution of nutrition is underexplored. We, therefore, investigated the association between dietary choices and mental well-being among schoolchildren.
Methods
Data from 7570 secondary school and 1253 primary school children in the Norfolk Children and Young People Health and Well-being Survey, open to all Norfolk schools during October 2017, were analysed. Multivariable linear regression was used to measure the association between nutritional factors and mental well-being assessed by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale for secondary school pupils, or the Stirling Children’s Well-being Scale for primary school pupils. We adjusted all analyses for important covariates including demographic, health variables, living/home situation and adverse experience variables.
Results
In secondary school analyses, a strong association between nutritional variables and well-being scores was apparent. Higher combined fruit and vegetable consumption was significantly associated with higher well-being: well-being scores were 3.73 (95% CI 2.94 to 4.53) units higher in those consuming five or more fruits and vegetables (p<0.001; n=1905) compared with none (n=739). The type of breakfast or lunch consumed was also associated with significant differences in well-being score. Compared with children consuming a conventional type of breakfast (n=5288), those not eating any breakfast had mean well-being scores 2.73 (95% CI 2.11 to 3.35) units lower (p<0.001; n=1129) and those consuming only an energy drink had well-being scores 3.14 (95% CI 1.20 to 5.09) units lower (p=0.002; n=91). Likewise, children not eating any lunch had well-being scores 2.95 (95% CI 2.22 to 3.68) units lower (p<0.001; 860) than those consuming a packed lunch (n=3744). In primary school analyses, the type of breakfast or lunch was associated with significant differences in well-being scores in a similar way to those seen in secondary school data, although no significant association with fruit and vegetable intake was evident.
Conclusion
These findings suggest that public health strategies to optimise the mental well-being of children should include promotion of good nutrition.
... For this reason, several countries launched food policies encouraging healthy diets favouring the consumption of vegetables and fruits (Settanni et al., 2013); one of the most relevant intervention in this direction was the "five-a-day" initiative recommending the daily ingestion of five portions of mixed fruits and vegetables (excluding potatoes) (Perry et al., 1998). To this purpose, frequency of intake is more important than portion size, considering an average portion weight of 80 g (Ashfield-Watt et al., 2004). However, after >20 years from the five-a-day policy enactment, evidences indicate that this measure has not been effective in reaching its goal in many developed countries (Dogbe and Revoredo-Giha, 2021), since the general consumption of vegetables and fruits is lower than the recommended dietary guidelines. ...
This work was carried out to elaborate selenium (Se) bio-enriched fermented Mediterranean fruit juices. To this purpose, pomegranate and table red grape juices were added with sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) and fermented by Levilactobacillus brevis CRL 2051 and Fructobacillus tropaeoli CRL 2034 individually or combined. To better evaluate the effect of selenite addition and starter strain inoculums on the total bacterial community of the fruit juices, fermentation trials were performed with raw and pasteurized fruit juices. No statistical significant differences were observed for total mesophilic microorganisms (TMM) and rod-shaped lactic acid bacteria (LAB) levels among raw and pasteurized juices inoculated with the starter strains, while significant differences between those juices with and without selenite were registered. LAB cocci, Pseudomonadaceae and yeasts were detected only for the raw juice preparations. The dominance of L. brevis CRL 2051 and F. tropaeoli CRL 2034 was confirmed by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR analysis. After fermentation, pH dropped for all inoculated trials and control raw juices. The soluble solid content (SSC) levels of the raw juices were higher than the corresponding pasteurized trials. The thermal treatment affected consistently yellowness of grape juice trials and redness of pomegranate juices. No microbial Se accumulation was registered for pomegranate juices, while F. tropaeoli CRL 2034 accumulated the highest amount of Se (65.5 μg/L) in the grape juice. For this reason, only trials carried out with raw grape juices were investigated by metagenomics analysis by Illumina MiSeq technology. Non-inoculated grape juices were massively fermented by acetic acid bacteria while Fructobacillus and Lactobacillus (previous genus name of Levilactobacillus) represented the highest operational taxonomy units (OTUs) relative abundance % of the trials inoculated with the starter strains as confirmed by this technique.
... 62 Nonetheless, although the authors did not have into account the methods of preparation regarding the diversity consumption, potatoes were excluded from the vegetable group, which is in accordance with previous studies 63 and the UK's "5-a-day" program. 64 In addition, total energy intake was considered as confounder in all the outcomes studied. There was a detailed collection of health data, by the same research team, which assured a relative unbiased estimate of outcome prevalence. ...
Background
A diet rich in fruits and vegetables has been suggested to counteract the oxidative stress and inflammation that characterize asthma. We aimed to assess the association between vegetable and fruit diversity consumption and asthma and its related outcomes in school‐aged children.
Methods
Participants included 647 children (49% females, aged 7‐12 years) recruited from 20 public schools across the city of Porto, in Portugal. Vegetable intake and fruit intake were ascertained using a single self‐reported 24‐hour recall questionnaire. A diversity score was built taking into account the different number of individual vegetables and fruits consumed and categorized into two groups based on the total reported median consumption, which was rounded to the nearest whole number (≤3 and >3, for vegetables; and ≤1 and >1, for fruits). A questionnaire was used to enquire about self‐reported medical diagnosis of asthma and respiratory symptoms. Airway inflammation was assessed measuring exhaled fractional nitric oxide concentration (eNO) and was categorized into two groups (<35 and ≥35 ppb). The association between fruit and vegetable diversity and respiratory outcomes was examined using logistic regression models, adjusting for confounders.
Results
A higher vegetable diversity consumption per day was negatively associated with having self‐reported asthma (OR = 0.67; 95% CI 0.47, 0.95), while having a vegetable diversity consumption superior to 3 items per day was negatively associated with levels of eNO ≥ 35 ppb (OR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.16, 0.88) and breathing difficulties (OR = 0.39; 95% CI 0.16, 0.97).
Conclusion
Eating a greater variety of vegetables was associated with a lower chance of airway inflammation and prevalence of self‐reported asthma in school children.
