California Adults Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption from 1997-2007

ObjectiveTo determine whether fruit and vegetable consumption among California adults significantly increased from 1997-2007.DesignBiennial telephone surveillance surveys of California adults’ dietary practices.ParticipantsCalifornia adults (n = 9,105 total all 6 surveys).InterventionSurveillance data reporting.Main Outcome MeasuresChanges in fruit and vegetable consumption over time between 1997-2007, measured by mean servings and percentage of adults eating ≥ 5 servings on any given day.AnalysisComparisons of subsets both within the same year and across years were made using t tests, chi-square, and Tukey Studentized Range tests at 5% procedure-wise error rate.ResultsCalifornia adults significantly increased mean daily servings of fruits and vegetables from 3.8 servings in 1997 to 5.2 servings in 2007.Conclusions and ImplicationsSince 1998, notable improvements in fruit and vegetable consumption have occurred to California populations, including the target audience groups of the Network for a Healthy California.