Dietary intake of vegetables and fruits among adults in five regions of Spain

Abstract

Objective: To assess the consumption of vegetables and fruits (V&F) in adults from five regions in Spain according to sex, age and educational level.

Design: Cross-sectional study within the members of the EPIC cohort in Spain.

Setting: Three regions of the north of Spain (Asturias, Guipúzcoa and Navarra) and two regions of the south of Spain (Granada and Murcia).

Subjects: 41 448 healthy volunteers (15 365 men, 25 813 women), aged 29–69 y.

Interventions: Information on habitual diet during the previous year was collected by means of a computerised version of a diet history questionnaire.

Results: Among men, the mean daily consumption of vegetables and of fruits was 273.7 g (3.4 servings) and 348.3 g (4.4 servings) respectively. Among women, the corresponding vegetables and fruit intakes per day were 244.4 g (3.1 servings) and 349.4 g (4.4 servings). The total V&F intake tended to increase with age and educational level. Overall, 74% of subjects consumed 400 g/d (5 servings) of vegetables and fruit.

Conclusions: Consumption of vegetables and fruits in healthy adults in Spain is considerably higher than in most European countries and the United States; this complies with what is considered to be the Mediterranean diet. Despite some regional differences, there were no clearly differentiated patterns of V&F intake between southern and northern regions within Spain.