Factors associated with fruit and vegetable consumption in Brazil, 2006.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption and associated factors.


METHODS
A total of 54,369 individuals aged > or = 18 years living in Brazilian state capitals and the Federal District in 2006 were interviewed through the system Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças Crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico (VIGITEL--telephone-based surveillance of risk and protective factors for chronic diseases). The food consumption indicators used were regular intake of fruits and vegetables (> or = 5 days/week) and adequate intake (> or = 5 times/day). The prevalence of the indicators and their confidence intervals, stratified according to sex, were calculated. To analyze associations between sociodemographic variables, crude odds ratios were calculated and then adjusted for sex, age, schooling level and marital status.


RESULTS
Less than half of the individuals said that they regularly consumed fruits (44.1%) or vegetables (43.8%), while 23.9% said they regularly consumed both fruits and vegetables. Adequate intake was reported by 7.3% of the interviewees. Fruit and vegetable consumption varied between the cities studied, was greater among women and increased with increasing age and schooling level.


CONCLUSIONS
Initiatives for promoting fruit and vegetable consumption need to address both the whole population and, especially, cities in the Northern and Northeastern regions of Brazil, young people, men and the population strata of low schooling level.
Jaime
Patricia Constante
PC
Núcleo de Pesquisas Epidemiológicas em Nutrição e Saúde, Departamento de Nutrição, Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. constant@usp.br
Figueiredo
Iramaia Campos Ribeiro
IC
Moura
Erly Catarina de
EC
Malta
Deborah Carvalho
DC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014675:Vegetables; D055815:Young Adult