抄録
We studied the association between the awareness of vegetable consumption and its frequency among participants of dietary education events performed in the community (n＝106, 24 male and 82 female) and at a school festival (n＝86, 19 male and 67 female). Participants who reported “low vegetable consumption” as a concern related to dietary habits (aware participants) accounted for 44.2 and 26.4% of those participating in the school festival (school festival group) and community-based events (community group), respectively, indicating a significant difference between the two groups (p<0.01).
We compared the frequency of vegetable consumption between those with and without awareness for each event. In the school festival group, no difference was noted between those with and without awareness for breakfast and lunch whereas, for dinner, those reporting “very rarely” accounted for 5.4 and 0% of the aware and unaware participants, respectively, and those reporting “nearly every day” accounted for 48.6 and 80.9%, respectively, indicating a significant difference between those with and without awareness (p<0.01).
In the community group, those reporting “nearly every day” for lunch accounted for 25.9 and 57.1% of the aware and unaware participants, respectively, indicating a significant difference between them. Those reporting “2 or 3 times per week” for dinner accounted for 21.4 and 4.2%, respectively, as well as those “nearly every day” for 60.7 and 81.7%, respectively, indicating a significant difference between those with and without awareness (p<0.05).
We asked the participants to freely describe up to 3 vegetable dishes that they frequently consumed. “Salad” was reported by 69.8 and 38.7% of the school festival and community groups, respectively, and “Stir-fried vegetables” by 50.0 and 35.8%, respectively, indicating a significant difference between the two groups (p<0.001、p<0.05, respectively). “Others” was reported by 32.6 and 92.5%, respectively, indicating a significant difference between the two groups (p<0.001). In terms of the frequently consumed vegetable dishes, no difference was noted between those with and without awareness.
The present survey suggests that persons less frequently eating vegetables are personally aware of their “low vegetable consumption”. In the future, we will need to explore the reason for a low frequency of vegetable consumption, and provide advice on specific actions to be taken for improvement at each event for dietary education.
