A Comparison of College Students’ Reported Fruit and Vegetable Liking and Intake from Childhood to Adulthood

Abstract

Objectives: Fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) is below recommendations and fruit and vegetable liking (FVL) is associated with intake. Greater understanding of college student FVL and FVI is needed; therefore, the study objectives were to compare reported FVL and frequency of FVI in adulthood to recollection of FVL and frequency of fruit and vegetable offering (FVO) in childhood and identify factors related to FVL and FVI in college students.

Methods: A retrospective survey was administered via e-mail to randomly selected college students (18–25 years) from 2 Northwestern universities (n = 676). McNemar's chi-square tests were used to evaluate differences in FVL and FVI scores. Spearman's rank identified an association between current FVL and FVI scores and their recollection of FVO as a child. Pearson's chi-square tests were used to examine differences in FVL and FVI scores within the demographic factors age, gender, year in school, urban/rural, body mass index (BMI), childhood overweight, breastfed, and forced to eat fruits or vegetables.

Results: FVL was more frequent in adulthood, but college students reported FVO as a child more frequently than their current FVI. Females reported greater FVL and FVI. Upperclassmen and the 21–25 age group reported greater frequency of vegetable liking and intake compared to underclassmen and the 18–20 age group. Lower vegetable liking and fruit intake were reported for those identifying as overweight, and recollection of FVO in childhood was associated with increased FVL and FVI scores in adulthood. Individuals forced by caregivers to eat vegetables as a child reported a lower vegetable liking than those not forced.

Conclusions: FVL increased from childhood to adulthood, demonstrating a progression; however, recollection of childhood offering was higher than FVI in young adulthood. Results indicate a need for behavioral strategies to increase FVI in college students and encourage offering fruit and vegetables but refrain from forcing children to eat vegetables.

Key words:

• child nutrition
• fruit and vegetable liking
• fruit intake
• vegetable intake
• college students