Review of policies to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity in 49 low- and middle-income countries.
BACKGROUND
Inadequate physical activity (PA) and consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) are known risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Consequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) encourages the development of policies to increase PA and FV consumption. We reviewed available policies between 2004 and 2013 to increase FV consumption and PA from a convenience sample of 49 LMICs.


METHOD
Information on national policies were obtained from government ministries involved with the formulation of nutrition and PA policies, WHO databases and from PubMed and Scopus.


RESULTS
Of the 49 countries, 57% had policies to increase FV consumption, and 76% had policies to promote PA. Policy reviews indicated strategies that focus on schools, communities, the general public, the environment, the economy, mass media and WHO recommendations. Of the 28 countries with FV policies, 18% had formulated policies that met the WHO recommendations for daily intake of FV. Likewise, of the 37 countries with PA policies, 24% had policies that promoted the WHO recommendations for daily PA.


CONCLUSION
Greater progress has been made in developing policies to increase PA compared to policies to increase FV consumption in low- and middle-income countries. However, most countries are still lagging behind in developing policies to meet the WHO recommendations.
['Darfour-Oduro|S A|SA|', 'Andrade|J E|JE|', 'Grigsby-Toussaint|D S|DS|']
D003906:Developing Countries D015444:Exercise D005638:Fruit D017408:Guidelines as Topic D006291:Health Policy D006293:Health Promotion D006801:Humans D007182:Income D014675:Vegetables
fruits low- and middle-income countries non-communicable diseases WHO recommendations behavioral health policies nutrition policies physical activity policies school-based policies vegetables policies