Consumption of vegetables, fruit and other plant foods in the European Prospective Investigation into XXXX and Nutrition (EPIC) cohorts from 10 European countries.

@entity1 @entity5
OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare the consumption of the main groups and sub-groups of vegetables and fruits (V_F) in @entity1 and @entity1 from the centres participating in the European Prospective Investigation into @entity5 and Nutrition (EPIC). DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis. Dietary intake was assessed by means of a 24-hour dietary recall using computerised interview software and standardised procedures. Crude and adjusted means were computed for the main groups and sub-groups of V_F by centre, separately for @entity1 and @entity1 . Adjusted means by season, day of the week and age were estimated using weights and covariance analysis. SETTING: Twenty-seven centres in 10 European countries participating in the EPIC project. SUBJECTS: In total, 35 955 subjects (13 031 @entity1 and 22 924 @entity1 ), aged 35-74 years, randomly selected from each EPIC cohort. RESULTS: The centres from southern countries had the highest consumption of V_F, while the lowest intake was seen in The Netherlands and Scandinavia for both genders. These differences were more evident for fruits, particularly citrus. However, slightly different patterns arose for some sub-groups of vegetables, such as root vegetables and cabbage. Adjustment for body mass index, physical activity, smoking habits and education did not substantially modify the mean intakes of vegetables and fruits. CONCLUSIONS: Total vegetable and fruit intake follows a south-north gradient in both genders, whereas for several sub-groups of vegetables a different geographic distribution exists. Differences in mean intake of V_F by centre were not explained by lifestyle factors associated with V_F intake.
