Fruit and vegetable consumption close to recommendations. A partly web-based nationwide dietary survey in Swedish...

Fruit and vegetables (F&V) are strongly associated with health. The latest Swedish national dietary survey from a decade ago showed that consumption of F&V was below recommended levels. However, current consumption in different subgroups is not well known.

To investigate the consumption of various F&V types in Swedish adults grouped according to sociodemographic factors and self-reported physical activity (PA).

A cross-sectional survey using a quantitative pen-and-paper or web-based questionnaire in a population-based random sample of adults 18-84 years (final n=1,304; 51%). A self-administered 24-h recall and a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) were used to measure F&V consumption. Data on gender, age, education level, country of birth, and PA (hours/week) were included as grouping variables. Besides descriptive data, two-sample t-tests and non-parametric tests were performed. A P-value <0.01 was regarded as significant.

Mean F&V consumption based on the self-administered 24-h recall was close to the recommended five portions/day: 5.4 (99% CI 5.1-5.6) portions/day among women and 4.7 (4.4-5.0) portions/day among men (P<0.001). Also the FFQ showed that women generally consumed more F&V than men did. Consumption was lowest among respondents with

The present study shows a relatively high F&V consumption close to the recommended five portions per day. Gender differences still exist. Also PA and country of birth were significantly associated with F&V consumption.