2011 Volume 64 Issue 2 Pages 107-111
Nutritional education is aimed at increasing the intake of vegetables. It is important for people to grasp the target quantity of vegetable intake and the concept of daily vegetable intake requirements. We studied the perceptions of Japanese people with regard to the items commonly recognized as vegetables, and those that are defined as vegetables in the Standard Food Composition Tables in Japan. We then examined the influence of any differences in this perception on daily vegetable intake. We chose 25 vegetable items and 15 non-vegetable items from the Standard Tables, and asked the study subjects which of these 40 items they regarded asvegetables or non-vegetables. The correct answer rate for vegetables was 93.6% and that for non-vegetables was 57.8%. The food that hadthe lowest correct answer rate was potato at 14.9%. We measured the weight of food used for side dishes in 78 kinds of commercial lunch and classified them. The food items that people recognized as vegetables were 21% higherthan the weight of the vegetables in the lunch.
