title: Consumption of vegetables, fruit and other plant foods in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohorts from 10 European countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe and compare the consumption of the main groups and sub-groups of vegetables and fruits (V&F) in men and women from the centres participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analysis. Dietary intake was assessed by means of a 24-hour dietary recall using computerised interview software and standardised procedures. Crude and adjusted means were computed for the main groups and sub-groups of V&F by centre, separately for men and women. Adjusted means by season, day of the week and age were estimated using weights and covariance analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven centres in 10 European countries participating in the EPIC project.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 35 955 subjects (13 031 men and 22 924 women), aged 35-74 years, randomly selected from each EPIC cohort.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The centres from southern countries had the highest consumption of V&F, while the lowest intake was seen in The Netherlands and Scandinavia for both genders. These differences were more evident for fruits, particularly citrus. However, slightly different patterns arose for some sub-groups of vegetables, such as root vegetables and cabbage. Adjustment for body mass index, physical activity, smoking habits and education did not substantially modify the mean intakes of vegetables and fruits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Total vegetable and fruit intake follows a south-north gradient in both genders, whereas for several sub-groups of vegetables a different geographic distribution exists. Differences in mean intake of V&F by centre were not explained by lifestyle factors associated with V&F intake.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. a.agudo@ico.scs.es
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agudo
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Slimani
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ocké
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Naska
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kroke
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bamia
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karalis
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vineis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palli
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Bueno-de-Mesquita
authors.forename: P H M
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Engeset
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hjartåker
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martínez Garcia
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wallström
authors.forename: J X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stripp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Overvad
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clavel-Chapelon
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casagrande
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riboli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014675:Vegetables