Socio-economic differences in adolescents’ breakfast eating, fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity in Ghana

AbstractObjectiveFew studies have investigated the association between adolescents’ socio-economic status (SES) and health behaviours in developing countries. Socio-economic differences in breakfast eating, fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity were investigated among Ghanaian adolescents.DesignA school-based survey of 12–18-year-olds (n 1195, response rate 89·7 %) was conducted in 2008. Logistic regression analyses were applied to study the associations between breakfast eating, fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity, and SES.SettingSouthern Ghana, West Africa.SubjectsSchool pupils aged 12–18 years.ResultsOf all adolescents, 31 % took breakfast less than 4 d/week, over half (56 %) and 48 %, respectively, rarely ate fruits and vegetables. Younger adolescents (12–15-year-olds) consumed fruits and vegetables frequently compared with older ones (16–18-year-olds). Boys were more likely to participate in physical activity than girls. The probability of frequent breakfast eating was higher in adolescents from more affluent backgrounds than in those from less affluent ones. Compared with those whose mothers were illiterate, both tertiary and primary maternal educational attainment increased the probability of frequent fruit intake. Similarly, tertiary educational attainment increased the likelihood of frequent vegetable intake. Compared with those with unemployed mothers, mothers’ low employment grade was related to higher probability of frequent fruit intake. High school performance was associated with frequent fruit intake, whereas high or medium school performance increased the likelihood of vegetable intake compared with low school performance.ConclusionsInterventions are needed to improve breakfast intake, fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity in order to prevent degenerative diseases among Ghanaian adolescents.

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Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and the Incidence of Hypertension in Three Prospective Cohort Studies

Hypertension ◽

10.1161/hypertensionaha.115.06497 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 67 (2) ◽

pp. 288-293 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Lea Borgi ◽

Isao Muraki ◽

Ambika Satija ◽

Walter C. Willett ◽

Eric B. Rimm ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Health Study ◽

Fruit Intake ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Hypertension Risk ◽

Hazard Ratios

Increased fruit and vegetable intake lowers blood pressure in short-term interventional studies. However, data on the association of long-term intake of fruits and vegetables with hypertension risk are scarce. We prospectively examined the independent association of whole fruit (excluding juices) and vegetable intake, as well as the change in consumption of whole fruits and vegetables, with incident hypertension in 3 large longitudinal cohort studies: Nurses’ Health Study (n=62 175), Nurses’ Health Study II (n=88 475), and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (n=36 803). We calculated hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for fruit and vegetable consumption while controlling for hypertension risk factors. Compared with participants whose consumption was ≤4 servings/week, the pooled hazard ratios among those whose intake was ≥4 servings/day were 0.92(0.87–0.97) for total whole fruit intake and 0.95(0.86–1.04) for total vegetable intake. Similarly, compared with participants who did not increase their fruit or vegetable consumption, the pooled hazard ratios for those whose intake increased by ≥7 servings/week were 0.94(0.90–0.97) for total whole fruit intake and 0.98(0.94–1.01) for total vegetable. Analyses of individual fruits and vegetables yielded different results. Consumption levels of ≥4 servings/week (as opposed to <1 serving/month) of broccoli, carrots, tofu or soybeans, raisins, and apples was associated with lower hypertension risk. In conclusion, our results suggest that greater long-term intake and increased consumption of whole fruits may reduce the risk of developing hypertension.

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Rams Have Heart, a Mobile App Tracking Activity and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption to Support the Cardiovascular Health of College Students: Development and Usability Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.15156 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Michelle C Krzyzanowski ◽

Paul N Kizakevich ◽

Vanessa Duren-Winfield ◽

Randall Eckhoff ◽

Joel Hampton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Query Language ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

User Participation ◽

Mobile App ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Intake ◽

Black College ◽

Fruit And Vegetable

BACKGROUND With the increasing use of mobile devices to access the internet and as the main computing system of apps, there is a growing market for mobile health apps to provide self-care advice. Their effectiveness with regard to diet and fitness tracking, for example, needs to be examined. The majority of American adults fail to meet daily recommendations for healthy behavior. Testing user engagement with an app in a controlled environment can provide insight into what is effective and not effective in an app focused on improving diet and exercise. OBJECTIVE We developed Rams Have Heart, a mobile app, to support a cardiovascular disease (CVD) intervention course. The app tracks healthy behaviors, including fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity, throughout the day. This paper aimed to present its functionality and evaluated adherence among the African American college student population. METHODS We developed the app using the Personal Health Informatics and Intervention Toolkit, a software framework. Rams Have Heart integrates self-reported health screening with health education, diary tracking, and user feedback modules to acquire data and assess progress. The parent study, conducted at a historically black college and university-designated institution in southeastern United States, consisted of a semester-long intervention administered as an academic course in the fall, for 3 consecutive years. Changes were made after the cohort 1 pilot study, so results only include cohorts 2 and 3, comprising a total of 115 students (n=55 intervention participants and n=54 control participants) aged from 17 to 24 years. Data collected over the study period were transferred using the secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure protocol and stored in a secure Structured Query Language server database accessible only to authorized persons. SAS software was used to analyze the overall app usage and the specific results collected. RESULTS Of the 55 students in the intervention group, 27 (49%) students in cohort 2 and 25 (45%) in cohort 3 used the Rams Have Heart app at least once. Over the course of the fall semester, app participation dropped off gradually until exam week when most students no longer participated. The average fruit and vegetable intake increased slightly, and activity levels decreased over the study period. CONCLUSIONS Rams Have Heart was developed to allow daily tracking of fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity to support a CVD risk intervention for a student demographic susceptible to obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. We conducted an analysis of app usage, function, and user results. Although a mobile app provides privacy and flexibility for user participation in a research study, Rams Have Heart did not improve compliance or user outcomes. Health-oriented research studies relying on apps in support of user goals need further evaluation.

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Abstract P070: The Relationship Between Weight and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Assessed by Serum Carotenoids and Self-Report: Results from the PREMIER Trial

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.125.suppl_10.ap070 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 125 (suppl_10) ◽

Author(s):

Jessie L Parker ◽

Liwei Chen ◽

Diane C Mitchell ◽

Hsin-Chieh Yeh ◽

Cheryl Anderson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Intake ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Average Intake ◽

Serum Carotenoids ◽

The Relationship

Background: Increased intake of fruits and vegetables (F/V) may protect against adiposity, but effects on weight have been inconsistent. Our objective was to examine the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and weight, using direct and indirect measures of dietary intake: self-reported 24-hour recall and serum carotenoid levels. Methods: Participants from the PREMIER lifestyle intervention trial were included in this analysis (n=554). Dietary measures included 24-hour dietary recalls and serum carotenoid levels, from a fasting blood sample. The outcome was weight in pounds. Nested linear mixed models were used to examine the association between F/V and weight. Results: Mean F/V increased from 4.6 (SD 2.4) to 5.6 (SD 3.2) (p=<.01), mean serum carotenoids increased from 53.2 (SD 31.9) to 68.1 (SD 42.5) (p=<.01). At 18 months, participants in the lowest quintile of fruit and vegetable change reported an average intake of 4.42.8 servings of fruits and vegetables, and those in the highest quintile of change reported an average intake of 7.73.2 servings. In a multivariate model adjusting for age, race, gender, intervention, energy, study site, and time, lower body weight was associated with higher F/V intake measured by dietary recall (−0.63 lbs, 95% CI −0.83 to −0.42, per 1 serving increase in F/V) and serum carotenoids (−0.13 lbs, 95% CI −0.15 to −0.11, per 1 ug/dl increase in carotenoids). Results were somewhat attenuated but consistent after additional adjustments for working heart rate, exercise, calories from sugar-sweetened beverages, marital and employment status, and alcohol use . Conclusions: Greater fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with decreased body weight. Results were consistent for both objective and self-reported measures of fruit and vegetable intake.

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Adolescents’ proxy reports on obesity-related parenting practices: Factorial validity and reliability across four behavioral domains

10.21203/rs.3.rs-789279/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gabriel L Fuligni ◽

Christopher J Gonzalez ◽

Roger Figueroa

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Parenting Practices ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Intake ◽

Factorial Validity ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Proxy Report ◽

Proxy Reports

Abstract Background Energy-balance behaviors are precursors to obesity shaped by the practices or strategies that many parents implement. Although key stakeholders to their families, adolescents are rarely considered to report on these obesity-related parenting practices. The aim of this study is to assess the factorial and predictive validity of adolescents’ proxy-report of parents’ obesity-related parenting across four behavioral domains. Methods This study used data from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) study. This study tests whether adolescents’ proxy reports about their parents’ obesity-related parenting are significantly associated with parents’ responses on their own obesity-related parenting, as well as whether these reports are significantly associated to parent-adolescent energy-balance behaviors. Factorial validity was assessed using linear regression and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), whereas predictive validity was assessed using Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling (APIM). Results Regression results indicated that adolescents’ proxy report is significantly associated with parents’ report of their own parenting in all four domains (β = .59 − .71; p < 0.05). CFA results indicated a final factor structure that loaded significantly onto hypothesized obesity-related parenting domains (β > .30) in both adolescents and parents. APIM results indicated that both parent- (β = .32; p < 0.05) and adolescent-(β = .21; p < 0.05) reported obesity parenting for fruit and vegetable consumption were associated with their own fruit and vegetable intake. In addition, adolescent-reported physical activity parenting was significantly associated with adolescent physical activity (β = 0.23; p < 0.05). Regarding partner effects, only parent-reported parenting for fruit and vegetable consumption were significantly associated with adolescent intake of fruit and vegetables (β = 0.15, p < 0.05) and adolescent-reported physical activity parenting was significantly associated with parental physical activity (β = 0.16, p < 0.05). Neither adolescent nor parent reported parenting were significantly associated with screen time or junk food intake outcomes. Each final obesity-related parenting scale had good internal consistency (a = .74-.85). Conclusions We found that adolescent- and parent-reported obesity-related parenting were significantly associated, while adolescent-reported parenting were more influential of fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity than parent-reported parenting. These findings suggest that adolescent proxy reports may be a valid source of information on obesity-related parenting.

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Socio-economic differences in fruit and vegetable consumption among Australian adolescents and adults

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1079/phn2002339 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 5 (5) ◽

pp. 663-669 ◽

Cited By ~ 140

Author(s):

Katrina Giskes ◽

Gavin Turrell ◽

Carla Patterson ◽

Beth Newman

Keyword(s):

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Lower Income ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Nutrition Survey ◽

Annual Household Income ◽

Adolescents And Adults ◽

And Storage

AbstractObjectives:To determine whether socio-economic groups differ in their fruit and vegetable consumption, and the variety eaten, and whether socio-economic differences are similar for adolescents and adults. The study also examined whether socio-economic groups vary in their reported desire to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed, and the perceived barriers to achieving this.Design, setting and subjects: The 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey collected fruit and vegetable intake data from adolescents aged 13–17 years (n = 654) and adults 18–64 years (n = 7695) using a 24-hour dietary recall. Gross annual household income was used to measure socio-economic position.Results:Approximately 44% of males and 34% of females did not consume fruit in the 24 hours preceding the survey, and 20% of males and 17% of females did not consume vegetables. Among adolescents and adults, fruit and vegetable consumption was positively related to income. The only exception was vegetable consumption among adolescent males, which did not vary by income Lower-income adults consumed a smaller variety of fruits and vegetables than their higher-income counterparts. Fruit and vegetable variety did not vary by income among adolescents. Lower-income adults expressed less desire to increase their fruit and vegetable consumption, and were more likely to report that price and storage were barriers to doing so. Socio-economic differences in consumption and variety were more apparent for adults than for adolescents.Conclusions:In addition to increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables among the general population, nutrition interventions, programmes and policy aiming to improve diet should target adolescents and adults from low socio-economic groups. Strategies should address price and storage barriers.

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Psychosocial Factors Associated with Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

American Journal of Health Promotion ◽

10.4278/0890-1171-10.2.98 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 98-104 ◽

Cited By ~ 135

Author(s):

Susan M. Krebs-Smith ◽

Jerianne Heimendinger ◽

Blossom H. Patterson ◽

Amy F. Subar ◽

Ronald Kessler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nutrition Education ◽

Psychosocial Factors ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Good Health ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Intake ◽

Baseline Survey ◽

Fruit And Vegetable

Purpose. This study examined the relationship between various psychosocial factors and fruit and vegetable consumption. Design. The 5 A Day Baseline Survey, conducted in August 1991, just before the initiation of the 5 A Day for Better Health Program, obtained data on adults' intakes of, and their knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes regarding, fruits and vegetables. Setting. The survey was conducted by telephone. Subjects. Subjects were 2811 adults (response rate, 43%) aged 18 years and older in the 48 coterminous United States. Measures. Fruit and vegetable intake was measured as self-reported frequency of use; most of the psychosocial variables were measured using Likert scales. Results. This study estimates that only 8% of American adults thought that five or more servings of fruits and vegetables were needed for good health. Of the factors studied, the most important in determining someone's fruit and vegetable intake were the number of servings they thought they should have in a day, whether they liked the taste, and whether they had been in the habit of eating many fruits and vegetables since childhood. These few factors accounted for 15% more of the variation in fruit and vegetable consumption than did demographic variables alone (8%). Conclusions. Nutrition education should stress the need to eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day because few adults are aware of this recommendation and such knowledge is strongly associated with increased intake. Furthermore, efforts to increase the palatability of fruits and vegetables, especially among children, should be promoted.

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Preliminary Examination of the Impact of a Gardening Program on Confidence, Physical Activity, Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, and Quality of Life

HortScience ◽

10.21273/hortsci.39.4.783a ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 39 (4) ◽

pp. 783A-783

Author(s):

Mu-Chuan Lin ◽

Candice Shoemaker* ◽

Nancy Gyurcsik

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Older Adults ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Home Garden ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

The Impact

Older adults are not sufficiently physically active and do not consume sufficient fruits and vegetables to achieve health benefits, such as an improved health-related quality of life (HRQL). As a result, an innovative gardening intervention, comprised of stretching exercises, the teaching of home garden knowledge and skills, and the preparation and taste testing of fruits and vegetables, was developed to target increased: (a) confidence to garden and to consume fruits and vegetables, (b) physical activity, (c) fruit and vegetable consumption, and (d) HRQL. Seven older adults, aged 60 years or older, participated in the gardening intervention and 10 older adults participated in the control group during the fall. Measures of confidence, physical activity (i.e., gardening), fruit and vegetable consumption, and HRQL were obtained at baseline and at the end of the 10-week program. Findings revealed that, at baseline, intervention participants had significantly higher confidence to garden compared to control participants but at end-program intervention and control participants did not significantly differ in any of the outcome variables. Bivariate findings also revealed that intervention participants who had higher confidence to garden or to consume fruits and vegetables at baseline also gardened more at end-program. Thus, interventions targeting confidence to garden and to consume fruits and vegetables may be effective in improving gardening (i.e., physical activity) behavior. Findings also suggest that seasonal change may be one influential moderator of the gardening program on confidence and gardening and fruit and vegetable consumption behavior change. Future research should examine the impact of the program in different seasons to clarify the effects.

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Relation of Fruits and Vegetables with Major Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Markers of Oxidation, and Inflammation

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu11102381 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 2381 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Lapuente ◽

Estruch ◽

Shahbaz ◽

Casas

Keyword(s):

Bioactive Compounds ◽

Large Scale ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Noncommunicable Diseases ◽

Protective Effects ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Almost All

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are considered to be the leading cause of death worldwide. Inadequate fruit and vegetable intake have been recognized as a risk factor for almost all NCDs (type 2 diabetes mellitus, cancer, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases). The main aim of this review is to examine the possible protective effect that fruit and vegetable consumption or their bioactive compounds may have on the development of NCDs such as atherosclerosis. The accumulated evidence on the protective effects of adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables in some cases, or the lack of evidence in others, are summarized in the present review. The main conclusion of this review is that well-designed, large-scale, long-term studies are needed to truly understand the role fruit and vegetable consumption or their bioactive compounds have in atherosclerosis.

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Fruit and vegetable intake by Brazilian adults, 2003

Cadernos de Saúde Pública ◽

10.1590/s0102-311x2005000700003 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 21 (suppl 1) ◽

pp. S19-S24 ◽

Cited By ~ 75

Author(s):

Patrícia Constante Jaime ◽

Carlos Augusto Monteiro

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Intake ◽

Fruit Intake ◽

Lower Income ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Daily Consumption

This study estimated indicators of fruit and vegetable intake by Brazilian adults and examined the influence of demographic and socioeconomic variables on the consumption of these foods. We used the following indicators: daily fruit intake, daily vegetable intake, and daily consumption of five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Only 41.0% of adults reported daily fruit intake, while 30.0% reported daily vegetable intake. Fruit and vegetable intake was more common in urban as compared to rural areas and increased in both genders with age, schooling, and number of household goods. We conclude that initiatives to promote fruit and vegetable consumption are necessary for the country as a whole, but special attention should be given to younger individuals, males, rural communities, and groups with less schooling and lower income.

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Metabolomics and cancer preventive behaviors in the BC Generations Project

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91753-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

J. Qi ◽

J. J. Spinelli ◽

T. J. B. Dummer ◽

P. Bhatti ◽

M. C. Playdon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Vegetable Consumption ◽

Vigorous Physical Activity ◽

Density Lipoprotein ◽

Positive Association ◽

Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽

Fruit And Vegetable ◽

Preventive Behaviors

AbstractMetabolomics can detect metabolic shifts resulting from lifestyle behaviors and may provide insight on the relevance of changes to carcinogenesis. We used non-targeted nuclear magnetic resonance to examine associations between metabolic measures and cancer preventive behaviors in 1319 participants (50% male, mean age 54 years) from the BC Generations Project. Behaviors were dichotomized: BMI < 25 kg/m2, ≥ 5 servings of fruits or vegetables/day, ≤ 2 alcoholic drinks/day for men or 1 drink/day for women and ≥ 30 min of moderate or vigorous physical activity/day. Linear regression was used to estimate coefficients and 95% confidence intervals with a false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.10. Of the 218 metabolic measures, 173, 103, 71 and 6 were associated with BMI, fruits and vegetables, alcohol consumption and physical activity. Notable findings included negative associations between glycoprotein acetyls, an inflammation-related metabolite with lower BMI and greater fruit and vegetable consumption, a positive association between polyunsaturated fatty acids and fruit and vegetable consumption and positive associations between high-density lipoprotein subclasses with lower BMI. These findings provide insight into metabolic alterations in the context of cancer prevention and the diverse biological pathways they are involved in. In particular, behaviors related to BMI, fruit and vegetable and alcohol consumption had a large metabolic impact.

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