Monitoring the Consumption of Vegetables among OECD Countries, Including Japan

Increasing intakes of vegetables are associated with risk reduction in various non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. In order to compare the proportion of daily vegetable intake among adults from these 30 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries as well as Japan, we applied data from the OECD website and the 2017 National Health and Nutrition Survey, Japan (NHNS-J). The figures for Australia, Israel, Korea, New Zealand, and the United States exceeded 80%, where survey questions in these countries asked the amount of intake, instead of the frequency of intake. In Japan, results from the one-day dietary record showed that 99.2% of adults consumed vegetables on the survey day; however, this decreased to 66.3% when assessed by a qualitative question. Proportion of daily vegetable intake as well as average intake amount was higher among those aged 60 y or older. Health policies to increase vegetable intake should target younger age groups to promote health in future generations, in Japan.