Fruit and vegetable intake in Austrian adults: intake frequency, serving sizes, reasons for and barriers to consumption, and potential for increasing consumption

Autor(en)
Manuel Schätzer, Petra Rust, Ibrahim Elmadfa
Abstrakt

Objective To assess the intake frequency of fruit and vegetables, serving sizes, reasons for and barriers to consumption, and the potential for increasing fruit and vegetable intake.

 

Design A nationwide postal questionnaire survey was conducted in 2006 over all four seasons. The participants were stratified according to occupation and sex. The response rate for 5130 questionnaires sent out was 52·7 %.

 

Setting Austria.

 

Subjects Austrian adults, aged 19–64 years.

 

Results Daily fruit consumption was reported by 57·1 % of the participants and daily vegetable consumption by 36·2 %. On average, 2·1 (sd 1·9) servings (250 (sd 225) g) of fruit and 1·7 (sd 1·3) servings (198 (sd 159) g) of vegetables were consumed daily. Women ate fruit and vegetables both more frequently and in greater quantities than men. Both intake frequency and the number of fruit and vegetable servings were largely independent of seasonal fluctuations. The primary reason for the consumption of both fruit and vegetables was taste. The greatest barrier to higher intake was the perception that current individual consumption was already sufficient. Price did not constitute a relevant barrier in Austria. At present, the potential for increasing fruit and vegetable intake can be estimated at two servings.

 

Conclusions Austrian adults still consume less fruit and vegetables than recommended. Strategies to increase intake should pay more attention to the taste instead of the various health aspects.

Organisation(en)
Department für Ernährungswissenschaften
Journal
Public Health Nutrition
Band
13
Seiten
480-487
Anzahl der Seiten
8
ISSN
1368-9800
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/S136898000999142X
Publikationsdatum
2009
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
303009 Ernährungswissenschaften
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/5e4f27ee-9b59-4b27-be92-5a54d9a909b1