5-a-day fruit and vegetable food product labels: reduced fruit and vegetable consumption following an exaggerated compared to a modest label.

BACKGROUND: Food product labels based on the WHO 5-a-day fruit and vegetable (FV) message are becoming increasingly common, but these labels may impact negatively on complementary or subsequent FV consumption. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a '3 of your 5-a-day' versus a '1 of your 5-a-day' smoothie product label on subsequent FV consumption. METHODS: Using an acute experimental design, 194 participants (90 males, 104 females) were randomised to consume a smoothie labelled as either '3 of your 5-a-day' (N = 97) or '1 of your 5-a-day' (N = 97) in full, following a usual breakfast. Subsequent FV consumption was measured for the rest of the day using 24-h recall. Usual FV consumption was also assessed via 24-h recall for the day before the study. RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed a significantly lower subsequent FV consumption following smoothies displaying the '3 of your 5-a-day' label compared to the '1 of your 5-a-day' label (Beta = - 0.15, p = 0.04). Secondary analyses revealed these effects to be driven mainly by changes to consumption in usual high FV consumers, in females and in vegetable as opposed to fruit consumption. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate a role for label information in food intake, and the potential negative impacts of an exaggerated food product label on healthy food consumption and healthy dietary profiles

Fruit and vegetable consumption close to recommendations. A partly web-based nationwide dietary survey in Swedish adults

 BackgroundFruit and vegetables (F&amp;V) are strongly associated with health. The latest Swedish national dietary survey from a decade ago showed that consumption of F&amp;V was below recommended levels. However, current consumption in different subgroups is not well known. ObjectiveTo investigate the consumption of various F&amp;V types in Swedish adults grouped according to sociodemographic factors and self-reported physical activity (PA).DesignA cross-sectional survey using a quantitative pen-and-paper or web-based questionnaire in a population-based random sample of adults 18–84 years (final n=1,304; 51%). A self-administered 24-h recall and a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) were used to measure F&amp;V consumption. Data on gender, age, education level, country of birth, and PA (hours/week) were included as grouping variables. Besides descriptive data, two-sample t-tests and non-parametric tests were performed. A P-value &lt;0.01 was regarded as significant.ResultsMean F&amp;V consumption based on the self-administered 24-h recall was close to the recommended five portions/day: 5.4 (99% CI 5.1–5.6) portions/day among women and 4.7 (4.4–5.0) portions/day among men (P&lt;0.001). Also the FFQ showed that women generally consumed more F&amp;V than men did. Consumption was lowest among respondents with ≤ 0.5 h self-reported PA/week (P≤0.001), as well as among men born in Sweden (P=0.006). F&amp;V were consumed in almost equal amounts, and fresh F&amp;V were most popular. Intake of berries and cooked F&amp;V was relatively low.ConclusionThe present study shows a relatively high F&amp;V consumption close to the recommended five portions per day. Gender differences still exist. Also PA and country of birth were significantly associated with F&amp;V consumption.</p

The sociodemographic patterning of drinking and binge drinking in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, 1994–2002

Background: Despite the relatively low recorded alcohol consumption level, the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and neighbouring Finland suffer from similar harmful consequences related to the use of alcoholic beverages, including socio-economic inequalities in alcohol related mortality. Comparative evidence is needed to understand harmful drinking patterns and to implement preventive alcohol policies also in the Baltic countries. This study compared heavy and binge drinking by sex, age, education, urbanisation and marital status in the Baltic countries and Finland. Methods: The data were nationally representative postal surveys conducted in Estonia (n = 6271), Latvia (n = 6106), Lithuania (n = 7966) and Finland (n = 15764) during 1994–2002. The criterion for heavy drinking was at least 15 portions weekly among men, and at least five among women, and for binge drinking at least six portions per one occasion. Results: Heavy drinking was more common among younger participants in all countries, and in Latvia among the less-educated. Among Finnish men, and among women from all countries except Latvia, the better-educated were more often heavy drinkers. In Latvia and Finland, urban men, and in all countries, urban women, were more often heavy drinkers. Heavy drinking was more common among non-married Lithuanian and Finnish men, and Finnish women. Binge drinking was more common among less-educated Estonian and Latvian men, and among younger and less-educated women in all countries. Conclusion: Our results support the continued power of traditional drinking habits in the North Eastern part of Europe. In the future the target groups for prevention of excessive drinking should also include young and less-educated women in all four countries studied

Time trends in socioeconomic differences in incidence rates of cancers of gastro-intestinal tract in Finland

BACKGROUND: The magnitude of socioeconomic differences in health varies between societies, and over time within a given society. We studied the association between social class and incidence of cancers of the gastro-intestinal tract over time in a large cohort in Finland. METHODS: We studied social class variation among 45–69 year-old Finns during 1971–95 in incidence of cancers of the gastro-intestinal tract by means of a computerized record linkage of the Finnish Cancer Registry and the 1970 Population Census, which included social class data. RESULTS: There were 2.3 million individuals in the cohort under follow-up, with 1622 cases of cancer of the esophagus, 8069 stomach (non-cardia), 1116 cardia, 408 small intestine, 6361 colon, 5274 rectum, 1616 liver, 1756 gallbladder, and 5084 pancreas during 1971–1995. Cancers of the esophagus, stomach, cardia, gallbladder and pancreas were most common among persons belonging to a low social class. Cancers of the small intestine in males only, colon in both genders, and rectum in females were most common in the higher social classes. Incidence of stomach cancer decreased and incidence of colon cancer increased over time in both genders in all social classes, and the large differences between social classes remained unchanged over time. Incidence rates of cardia cancer did not change substantially over time. CONCLUSION: There is a large variation in incidence of cancer of the gastrointestinal tract by social class in Finland. Although much of the observed social class differences probably could be explained by known etiological factors such as diet, physical exercise, alcohol consumption, smoking and exogenous hormone use, part of the variation is apparently attributable to largely unknown factors