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Consumption of vegetables, fruit and other plant foods in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohorts from 10 European countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

A Agudo ,
N Slimani ,
MC Ocké ,
A Naska ,
AB Miller ,
A Kroke ,
C Bamia ,
D Karalis ,
P Vineis  and
D Palli
...Show all authors
A Agudo*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), 08907 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
N Slimani
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
MC Ocké
Affiliation:
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
A Naska
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece
AB Miller
Affiliation:
German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany
A Kroke
Affiliation:
German Institute of Human Nutrition, Postdam-Rehbrücke, Germany
C Bamia
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece
D Karalis
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece
P Vineis
Affiliation:
Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Turin, Italy
D Palli
Affiliation:
Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, CSPO, Scientific Institute of Tuscany, Florence, Italy
HB Bueno-de-Mesquita
Affiliation:
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
PHM Peeters
Affiliation:
Julius Center for General Practice and Patient Oriented Research, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
D Engeset
Affiliation:
Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Norway
A Hjartåker
Affiliation:
Institute for Basic Medical Sciences, Oslo, Norway
C Navarro
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Health Council of Murcia, Spain
C Martínez Garcia
Affiliation:
Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, Spain
P Wallström
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, Sweden
JX Zhang
Affiliation:
Nutritional Research, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, University of Umeå, Sweden
AA Welch
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
E Spencer
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK, Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, UK
C Stripp
Affiliation:
Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
K Overvad
Affiliation:
Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark
F Clavel-Chapelon
Affiliation:
INSERM, U521, Institute Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
C Casagrande
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
E Riboli
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
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Abstract

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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).

Design:

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.

Setting:

Twenty-seven centres in 10 European countries participating in the EPIC project.

Subjects:

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.

Keywords

VegetablesFruitCohort studiesCross-sectional analysisEPIC study24-Hour dietary recallEurope
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 6b , December 2002 , pp. 1179 - 1196
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2002

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