Frequency and variety of fruit and vegetable consumption did not predict 6-year weight change in mid-aged women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

Healthcare costs are lower for adults who consume more vegetables; however, the association between healthcare costs and fruit and vegetable varieties is unclear. Our aim was to investigate the association between (i) baseline fruit and vegetable (F&V) varieties, and (ii) changes in F&V varieties over time with 15-year healthcare costs in an Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. The data for Survey 3 (n = 8833 women, aged 50–55 years) and Survey 7 (n = 6955, aged 62–67 years) of the 1946–1951 cohort were used. The F&V variety was assessed using the Fruit and Vegetable Variety (FAVVA) index calculated from the Cancer Council of Victoria’s Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies food frequency questionnaire. The baseline FAVVA and change in FAVVA were analysed as continuous predictors of Medicare claims/costs by using multiple regression analyses. Healthy weight women made, on average, 4.3 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7–6.8) fewer claims for every 10-point-higher FAVVA. Healthy weight women with higher fruit varieties incurred fewer charges; however, this was reversed for women overweight/obese. Across the sample, for every 10-point increase in FAVVA over time, women made 4.3 (95% CI 1.9–6.8) fewer claims and incurred $309.1 (95% CI $129.3–488.8) less in charges over 15 years. A higher F&V variety is associated with a small reduction in healthcare claims for healthy weight women only. An increasing F&V variety over time is associated with lower healthcare costs.

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Short-Term Weight Change and the Incidence of Diabetes in Midlife: Results from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

Diabetes Care ◽

10.2337/dc06-2187 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 1418-1424 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

G. D. Mishra ◽

G. Carrigan ◽

W. J. Brown ◽

A. G. Barnett ◽

A. J. Dobson

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Women’S Health ◽

Women's Health ◽

Weight Change ◽

Short Term ◽

Australian Longitudinal Study

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Serum carotenoids as biomarkers of fruit and vegetable consumption in the New York Women's Health Study

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1079/phn2000115 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 829-835 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Anne Linda Van Kappel ◽

Jean-Paul Steghens ◽

Anne Zeleniuch-Jacquotte ◽

Véronique Chajès ◽

Paolo Toniolo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Women’S Health ◽

Women's Health ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Beta Carotene ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Health Study ◽

Serum Concentrations ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Serum Carotenoids

AbstractObjective:To investigate the usefulness of serum carotenoids as biomarkers of fruit and vegetable consumption.Design:Reproducibility study on three repeat measurements of serum carotenoids. Correlation analysis of carotenoids and dietary food intake, and regression analysis of potential predictive parameters for serum carotenoid levels.Setting:New York, USA.Subjects:Women participating in the New York Women's Health Study, a prospective study of sex hormones, diet and breast cancer. Forty-eight women with three repeat blood samples and 302 women having a blood sample and a dietary history questionnaire.Results:Serum carotenoid concentrations were highly reproducible between one- and two-year repeat samples. Estimated fruit and vegetable consumption was positively correlated with serum carotenoid concentrations but correlation coefficients were low. Consumption of fruit was predictive for serum levels of beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin, while vegetable consumption was predictive for serum beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene. Serum concentrations of cholesterol and triglycerides were predictive for serum carotenoids but adjustment for their levels had little or no influence on the correlation between fruit and vegetable consumption and serum carotenoid concentrations.Conclusions:One single serum measurement of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lutein can accurately rank subjects according to their usual serum level. Serum concentrations, however, correlate only moderately with estimated dietary intake of fruits or vegetables and should therefore be used with caution as biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake.

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