Research ReportSex differences in fruit and vegetable intake in older adults
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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