Dietary intake of vegetables and fruits among adults in five regions of Spain

Objective To assess the consumption of vegetables and fruits (V&F) in adults from five regions in Spain according to sex, age and educational level.Design Cross-sectional study within the members of the EPIC cohort in Spain.Setting Three regions of the north of Spain (Asturias, Guipúzcoa and Navarra) and two regions of the south of Spain (Granada and Murcia).Subjects 41448 healthy volunteers (15365 men, 25813 women), aged 29-69 y.Interventions Information on habitual diet during the previous year was collected by means of a computerised version of a diet history questionnaire.Results Among men, the mean daily consumption of vegetables and of fruits was 273.7 g (3.4 servings) and 348.3 g (4.4 servings) respectively. Among women, the corresponding vegetables and fruit intakes per day were 244.4g (3.1 servings) and 349.4g (4.4 servings). The total V&F intake tended to increase with age and educational level. Overall, 74% of subjects consumed 400 g/d (5 servings) of vegetables and fruit.Conclusions Consumption of vegetables and fruits in healthy adults in Spain is considerably higher than in most European countries and the United States; this complies with what is considered to be the Mediterranean diet. Despite some regional differences, there were no clearly differentiated patterns of V&F intake between southern and northern regions within Spain.