Fruit and Vegetable Servings among Fourth- and Fifth-Graders. † 524

Abstract

Consumption of five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables is one of the nation's Year 2000 health objectives and the focus of a national program, 5 A Day for Better Health. The purpose of this study was to determine consumption patterns of fruit and vegetable servings among fourth- and fifth-graders; of particular interest was day of the week. Daily fruit and vegetable servings were obtained from food records completed for two one-week periods by 301 students recruited from all fourth- and fifth-grade classes(eight of each) from two elementary schools drawing from families of predominantly lower to middle socioeconomic status in Augusta, GA. The sample was farily evenly split by gender, grade, and ethnicity (white, black). Outcome variables were number of daily fruit and vegetable servings and percent of time five or more fruit and vegetable servings were consumed by day of week; each was analyzed using a mixed model analysis of variance. There was a significant (p<0.0001) difference among days for both variables; average fruit and vegetable servings were higher on Mondays (3.1), Tuesdays (3.1) and Wednesdays (3.4), somewhat lower on Thursdays (2.6), and considerably lower on Fridays (2.0), Saturdays (1.6), and Sundays (1.8). Five or more fruit and vegetable servings were consumed on Mondays through Wednesdays less than 22% of the time, on Thursdays less than 14% of the time, and on Fridays through Sundays less than 8% of the time. Based on these results, pediatricians will want to encourage their patients to consume more fruits and vegetables every day of the week and especially on the weekends to obtain the nutrients provided by fruits and vegetables. Research funded by the International Apple Institute.