Psychosocial Determinants of Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Japanese Adolescents: A School-Based Study in Japan

Association between nutrient intake from vegetables and BMI category of in-school adolescents in urban and rural areas in Davao City, Philippines

Consumption of vegetables may contribute to alleviating the double burden of malnutrition, which is widespread among adolescents. However, the link between specific nutrient intakes from vegetables and the body mass index (BMI) of in-school adolescents is not widely studied. This study determined the association between the nutrient intakes from the vegetables consumed and the BMI category of in-school adolescents in urban and rural areas in Davao City, Philippines. Self-reported vegetable consumption was collected from the respondents, and the corresponding nutrient intakes were calculated using the USDA food composition tables. The BMI of the participating adolescents was also measured. The results show that being underweight or overweight is generally associated with lower macronutrient and micronutrient intakes from the vegetables consumed, namely, bell pepper, bitter gourd, cabbage, carrot, chayote, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, Malabar spinach, moringa, mung bean, okra, potato, sponge gourd, squash, string beans, sweet potato, sweet potato tops, taro, tomato, water spinach (P < 0.05). The nutrient intakes from vegetables consumed by adolescents from urban households were generally higher. The findings highlight the contribution of vegetables to the nutrient intakes in the adolescent population. This study reinforces the need for targeted dietary guidelines and further promotion of vegetables, especially indigenous ones, to improve the nutritional status of adolescents in the Philippines.

[Psychosocial Influence Scale of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Adolescents: Adaptation and Factorial Validity]

Instruments to evaluate psychosocial determinants of fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption among adolescents are scarce, and there appears to be only one instrument - unnamed and unvalidated - that investigates determinants derived from theories of social psychology targeting the frequency of F&V consumption among adolescents. The scope of this paper was to present the process of cultural adaptation and factor validation of this instrument al-lowing its use in studies with Brazilian adolescents. The cross-cultural adaptation process was accomplished and the final version - named Psychosocial Influence Scale for Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Adolescents (PSI-FAVES) - was tested with 429 students (58% female) using McDonald's omega (ω) reliability and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) as analytical methods. The final version required refinement and the instrument showed adequate overall reliability (ω=0.86) and good fit of the data to the previously elaborated model (CFI=0.955; TLI=0.951 and RMSEA (90%CI) =0.043 (0.038-0.049)), being the first systematically validated instrument to investigate psychosocial determinants of F&V consumption among adolescents.

Assessing the genetic diversity of guava germplasm characterized by morpho-biochemical traits

Amid environmental crises, a galloping population, and changing food habits, increasing fruit production with nutritional quality is a global challenge. To address this, there is a necessity to exploit the germplasm accessions in order to develop high-yielding varieties/hybrids with good adaptability and high quality fruit under changing environmental and biological conditions. In the study, a total of 33 morpho-biochemical traits enabled an assessment of the genetic variability, diversity, and structure in a collection of 28 diverse germplasm lines of guava. Results showed that highly significant genetic variability existed in the studied traits in the guava germplasm. The coefficient of variation values for the qualitative and quantitative traits varied from 23.5–72.36 to 1.39–58.62%, respectively. Germplasm Thai, Lucknow-49, Punjab Pink, Psidium friedrichsthalianum, and Shweta had the highest fruit weight (359.32 g), ascorbic acid content (197.27 mg/100 g fruit), total phenolic content (186.93 mg GAE/100 g), titratable acidity (0.69 percent), and antioxidant capacity (44.49 μmolTrolox/g), respectively. Fruit weight was positively correlated with ascorbic acid content; however, titratable acidity was negatively correlated with fruit weight. The principal component analysis (PCA) was 84.2% and 93.3% for qualitative and quantitative traits, respectively. Furthermore, K-mean clustering was executed; the population was grouped into three clusters for both traits. Additionally, the dendrogram using agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), where all the germplasm were grouped into four clusters, revealed that among the clusters, clusters III and IV were highly divergent. The high variability, diversity, and structure could be utilized for the breeding programme of guava and also explored for molecular analysis using next-generation technology to enhance the guava yield and nutrition properties and also develop the climate resilient technology to fulfill the existing demand gap and nutrition availability, which could not only mitigate the nutrition requirement but also enhance the easy availability of fruits year-round.

The Lifelong Health Support 10: a Japanese prescription for a long and healthy life

Background

Although the age-adjusted incidence and mortality of cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) have been decreasing steadily in Japan, both diseases remain major contributors to morbidity and mortality along with the aging society. Herein, we aim to provide a prescription of 10 health tips for long and healthy life named the “Lifelong Health Support 10 (LHS10).”

Method

The LHS10 was developed by the preventive medicine specialists at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Suita, where it has been used for health guidance to prevent CVD, cancer, and cognitive decline in addition to their major risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. It consisted of the lifestyle modification recommendations of the 2014 Japanese Society of Hypertension guidelines and the 2017 Japan Atherosclerosis Society Guidelines for preventing atherosclerotic CVD. Further, it came in line with other international lifestyle modification guidelines. In this narrative review, we summarized the results of several Japanese epidemiological studies investigating the association between the LHS10 items and the risk of cancer, CVD, and other chronic diseases including dementia, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease.

Results

The LHS10 included avoiding smoking and secondhand smoke exposure, engaging in physical activity, refraining from excessive alcohol drinking, reducing fried foods and sugary soft drinks, cutting salt in food, consuming more vegetables, fruits, fish, soy foods, and fibers, and maintaining proper body weight. All items of the LHS10 were shown to reduce the risk of cancer, CVD, and other chronic diseases.

Conclusions

The LHS10 can be a helpful tool for health guidance.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1265/ehpm.22-00085.

Exploring Psychosocial Determinants of Eating Behavior: Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Brazilian Adolescents

In most Western countries, children and adolescents do not eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables (FVs). Theoretical frameworks on social psychology of eating, such as the Reason Action Approach, Social Cognitive Theory, and Theory of Normal Conduct have been applied to understand how psychosocial variables can explain FV intake. However, considering those predictors is still rare on the understanding of FV intake among adolescents (particularly in Brazil) despite its importance within eating behavior. Therefore, this study explored important psychosocial determinants of weekly frequency of FV intake among Brazilian adolescents in a model testing socioeconomic status (SES) and body mass index (BMI). A cross-sectional design was performed with 429 students (58% female), mean age 14.45 (SD 1.86). Key variables of theoretical framework on social psychology of food were investigated by structural equation modeling. The model included self-efficacy, attitudes, and social norms (with its subcomponents descriptive and injunctive) as psychosocial predictors of weekly frequency of FV intake along with SES and BMI. An instrument developed for Brazilian Portuguese was used to collect psychosocial variables as well as to verify FV reported intake. The total model explained 45.5% of weekly frequency of FV intake, and self-efficacy was the only significant psychosocial determinant (λ = 0.51, p = 0.001). SES also showed an important effect on the model (λ = 0.21, p = 0.001), while for BMI no significance was observed. In conclusion, the model was adequate to understand psychosocial determinants of weekly frequency of FV intake for Brazilian adolescents, with self-efficacy and SES as the major determinants of this eating behavior.