Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 40, Issue 3, 1 June 2003, Pages 269-275
Appetite

Research Report
Sex differences in fruit and vegetable intake in older adults

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6663(03)00014-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Fruits and vegetables are important components of a healthy diet, but intakes in most Western countries are well below the recommended five servings a day. Men in particular are eating too little. The aim of this study is to understand the processes underlying this gender difference. Fruit and vegetable intake, nutrition knowledge, taste preferences, attitudes to fruit and vegetable intake, and dieting status, were assessed in a simple questionnaire in 1024 older adults attending population-based cancer screening across the UK. The results confirmed the pattern of men consuming fewer servings of fruit and vegetables daily than women (2.52 vs 3.47; p<0.01). Fewer men than women knew the current recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, and fewer were aware of the links between fruit and vegetable consumption and disease prevention. Women rated their liking for vegetables but not fruit higher, and there were no differences in attitudes. Men were less likely to be dieting to lose weight. Multivariate analysis showed that the gender difference in intake was substantially attenuated by controlling for nutrition knowledge. There were no significant attenuating effects of preferences, attitudes or dieting status. These results indicate that men's poorer nutrition knowledge explains a significant part of their lower intake of fruit and vegetables.

Section snippets

Subjects and procedures

Participants for this study were older adults (aged 55–64 years) attending population-based cancer screening in the UK. They were recruited as part of the UK Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Screening Trial, in which colorectal screening has been carried out in 15 centres across the UK (Atkin et al., 2001, UK Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Screening Trial Investigators, 2002). Recruitment to the colorectal screening programme is carried out in two stages (see Atkin et al. (2001)). First, all adults in the age

Sample characteristics

There was a good response rate (84%), with 1054 adults completing the questionnaire. The most common reasons for not completing the questionnaires were physical impairment (e.g. poor sight) or lack of time. The sample for analyses of gender differences comprised 439 (48%) men and 524 (52%) women, with an average age of 60 years. Gender information was missing on 46 forms (4%). The distribution of housing tenure and car ownership was comparable to figures from the UK census for this age group.

Discussion

In common with most other population samples, the participants in this study consumed well below five servings a day of fruit and vegetables, with less than a quarter meeting the 5-a-day recommendation. Men consumed even less than women, with fewer than 20% of men eating the recommended amounts.

The results confirmed the low levels of nutritional knowledge in relation to fruit and vegetables already demonstrated in a younger, primary care sample (Parmenter et al., 2000). Assumptions that the

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Cancer Research UK.

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