Consumption of fruit and vegetables: how to motivate the population to change their behavior

This study reports the discrepancy between two methods to assess fruit and vegetable consumption in a Dutch adult population (N = 367). The consumption of fruit and vegetables was assessed by using a food frequency method (the number of grams of fruit and vegetables subjects ate every day) and by assessing subjectsʹ own estimates of their fruit and vegetable intake. Besides the behavior, intention and determinants were measured using a theoretical model including attitude, self-efficacy and social influence to eat fruit and vegetables. Results showed that there were large differences between the self-rated and estimated objective consumption of fruit and vegetables. Subjects rated their own intake as much higher than their estimated actual intake. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses showed that the determinants predicted the self-rated consumption much better than the estimated consumption.