60% of Canadians are concerned about pesticide residue on fruit and vegetables, according to poll results released by the Canadian Cancer Society. 80% carefully wash all fruit and vegetables before consuming to reduce their exposure to pesticide residue. 24% said they purchase products that have not been exposed to chemicals when they can.
Archive for category Fruits and vegetables
Canadian Cancer Society Hosts a two day science-based, groundbreaking conference about pesticides and cancer entitled Exploring the Connection: A State of the Science Conference on Pesticides and Cancer.
Assessing dietary intake in children is difficult and limited validated tools exist. Plasma carotenoids are potential nutritional biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake.
Food preferences play a central role in food choices and consumption. 341 black children (43% boys; 68% fourth graders) attending low-income, public elementary schools in southeastern Louisiana volunteered to participate. Height and weight were measured and they answered questions about their preferences for 38 different fruits and vegetables during the fall of 2005. There was a negative association between children’s mean f&v preference score and their body mass index for age percentile (P=0.01). Children who reported a very low preference for f&v were 5.5 times more likely to be categorized as at risk for overweight or overweight than were those who reported a high preference for fruits and vegetables (P<0.01). Read more
Contrary to popular belief, a new study released by First 5 California found that parents don’t need to sneak fruits and vegetables into their children’s meals — kids say they actually like them! Interviews with more than 100 preschoolers across California revealed that kids not only know it’s important to eat fruits and vegetables, they frequently prefer them to candy.
European scientists have developed a type of genetically modified tomato that is particularly high in antioxidants. When the tomatoes were fed to specially-bred ‘cancer-prone’ mice, the mice lived longer. Cancer Research UK, said: “It’s exciting to see new techniques that could potentially make healthy foods even better for us. But it’s too early to say whether anthocyanins obtained through diet could help to reduce the risk of cancer.
F&V intakes was assessed by parent and child self-reported food frequency measures. Secondary outcome measures were taste preference, knowledge of daily recommendations, availability and accessibility. Based on 346 intervention children (148 parents) and 425 control children (287 parents). Both child and parent reports indicated that the intervention group had a significantly higher fruit intake at 2-year follow-up (0.15 servings/day for child reports and 0.19 for parent reports. Keep in mind that the Dutch program only provide fruit about twice a week.
Based on 558 individuals and a 4-month intervention with eight sessions on ways to increase intake of fruits and vegetables the results include: an 21-percentage points increase in seniors consuming at least 7 servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
This Polish study characterizes biologically active compounds of berry fruits, including non-nutritive compounds such as phenolic compounds, including anthocyanins, phenolic acids, stilbens and tannins, as well as nutritive compounds such as carotenoids and vitamin C. It discusses the biological activity of those compounds, in particular their antioxidant properties and the resulting health benefits.
Researchers at Department of Communication, University of Louisville propose distinct, tailored program suggestions for reinventing social marketing programs focused on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in each segment of a consumer-based psychographic audience segmentation.