Impact of a community‐based walking program on fruit and vegetable consumption

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of Walk Across Arizona, a 16 week, statewide outreach walking program, on self‐reported fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in adult participants (18–100 yrs). F&V consumption was assessed in pre‐ and post‐program self‐administered surveys that asked amount and what kinds of F&V eaten in the previous day. Changes in F&V consumption were assessed using Wilcoxon matched‐pairs signed‐rank tests. Potential impact of age, body mass index (BMI), and prior physical activity were assessed using multivariate regression. Of the 2,454 adult participants registered for the program, 1,170 (70% female, mean age 50.0 years) reported F&V consumption at both registration and wrap‐up surveys. These participants significantly increased their reported consumption of F&V (p<0.05), while increasing their physical activity level and decreasing their BMI. The change in F&V consumption during the program was associated with baseline F&V consumption, gender, ethnicity, and the average miles reported per week. These findings suggest that a program aimed at increasing physical activity can have an impact on other areas of healthy living in the form of increased F&V consumption. The integration of nutrition messages into the walking program may further increase the consumption of F&V amongst program participants.