Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Clinical nutrition

Translating advice to eat more vegetables into practice: observations from a 12-month weight loss trial

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 73, pages 801–804 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to identify the main vegetable sources of overweight participants during a 12-month randomised controlled trial for weight loss.

Methods

Secondary analysis using data from diet history interviews to determine changes to daily vegetable intake amounts and types throughout the trial at 0, 3 and 12 months.

Results

Pre-trial 77% participants consumed frozen vegetables. At baseline (n = 113, 85 F), participants reported 345 ± 170 (56–920) g/day vegetables increasing to 498 ± 180 (146–930) g/day at 3 months and remaining stable at 475 ± 169(170–1053) g/day by 12 months (p = 0.001). At baseline, 32 of 34 different vegetable categories were reported, mainly tomato (69.9 g/day) and, potato (58.2 g/day). After 3 months (n = 109), seven vegetables remained in the top 10 reported (contributing 72%). Tomato remained top ranked to 12 months.

Conclusion

Following advice to consume more vegetables, consumption increased above the Australian Dietary recommendation of ~375 g/day. Tomatoes remained a mainstay regardless of the time of year, but choices changed with time. Frozen vegetables may be a feasible option.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bertoia ML, Mukamal KJ, Cahill LE, Hou T, Ludwig DS, Mozaffarian D, et al. Changes in intake of fruits and vegetables and weight change in United States men and women followed for up to 24 years: analysis from three prospective cohort studies. PLoS Med. 2015;12:e1001878.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Raynor HA, Jeffery RW, Tate DF, Wing RR. Relationship between changes in food group variety, dietary intake, and weight during obesity treatment. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004;28:813–20.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ciliska D, Miles E, O’brien MA, Turl C, Hale Tomasik H, Donovan U, et al. Effectiveness of community-based interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. J Nutr Educ. 2000;32:341–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Tapsell LC, Batterham MJ, Thorne RL, O’Shea JE, Grafenauer SJ, Probst YC. Weight loss effects from vegetable intake: a 12-month randomised controlled trial. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2014;68:778.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. AUSNUT 2007 [database on the Internet] 2007 [cited 31/08/10]. Available from: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/ausnut2007/.

  6. Grimes DA, Schulz KF. Bias and causal associations in observational research. Lancet. 2002;359:248–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bucher T, van der Horst K, Siegrist M. Improvement of meal composition by vegetable variety. Public Health Nutr. 2011;14:1357–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Burton-Freeman B, Reimers K. Tomato consumption and health: emerging benefits. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2010;5:182–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Mozaffarian D, Hao T, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB. Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. New Engl J Med. 2011;364:2392–404.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Probst YC, Cunningham J. An overview of the influential developments and stakeholders within the food composition program of Australia. Trends Food Sci Technol. 2015;42:173–82.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants of the HEAL trial. The trial was funded by Horticulture Australia Limited using the vegetable levy and matched funding from the Australian Government.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Faculty of Science Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Jane O’Shea, Linda Tapsell, Rebecca Thorne & Yasmine Probst

  2. Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Linda Tapsell & Yasmine Probst

Authors
  1. Jane O’Shea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Linda Tapsell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rebecca Thorne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yasmine Probst
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yasmine Probst.

Ethics declarations

University of Wollongong Human Research Ethics Committee

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

O’Shea, J., Tapsell, L., Thorne, R. et al. Translating advice to eat more vegetables into practice: observations from a 12-month weight loss trial. Eur J Clin Nutr 73, 801–804 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0277-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0277-9

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links