Increasing Vegetable Intakes: An Updated Systematic Review of Published Interventions.

Abstract

Vegetable consumption is important for a variety of health reasons, yet intakes are typically lower than recommended. Interventions to improve fruit and vegetable consumption are available, but these interventions are typically more successful for fruit consumption, while vegetable intakes remain low. This chapter details the interventions currently available that focus specifically on improving vegetable intakes. A systematic review of the published literature was conducted in 2015, and this has been updated for this chapter. Databases - PubMed, PsychInfo and Medline were searched over all years of records until January 2017 using pre-specified terms. Our searches identified 119 studies, detailing 206 interventions. Interventions aimed to use or change hedonic factors, such as taste, liking and familiarity (n=103), use or change environmental factors (n=54), use or change cognitive factors (n=28), or a combination of strategies (n=21). Increased vegetable acceptance, selection and/or consumption were reported to some degree in 186 (90%) interventions. Greatest success appears to be achieved in interventions that improve education, change the environment or use multiple approaches, but long-term success and cost-effectiveness are rarely considered. A focus on long-term benefits and sustained behaviour change is required.