Offringa Lisa C, Stanton Michael V, Hauser Michelle E, Gardner Christopher D
Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California (LCO, MEH, CDG).
Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, California State University, East Bay, Hayward, California (MVS).
Am J Lifestyle Med. 2018 May 2;13(3):224-234. doi: 10.1177/1559827618769605. eCollection 2019 May-Jun.
Both vegetable and fruit consumption contribute to wellness and disease prevention. Most dietary health messages promote both together and position the word "fruits" before "vegetables." We examined the word order of the commonly used phrase "fruits and vegetables" through linguistics, psychology, botany, nutrition, health outcomes, and current US intake to determine if the common word order best presents these two foods in health messaging. By comparing the 10 most commonly consumed vegetables versus fruits, we found that vegetables scored higher on the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index and contained fewer calories and more fiber than fruits. Among the "nutrients of public concern" listed in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, we determined that vegetables are better sources of these nutrients than fruits, although fruits scored higher in antioxidant content. In observational cohort studies, vegetable and fruit consumption was found to be associated with decreased mortality. Finally, daily intakes of both vegetables and fruits are lower than recommended, but the discrepancy is larger for vegetables-especially among children-suggesting a greater imperative to promote vegetables. For these reasons, future health messages promoting both together should intentionally put "vegetables" first to promote intake and emphasize their importance regarding contribution to health.
食用蔬菜和水果都有助于促进健康和预防疾病。大多数饮食健康信息都同时提倡这两者，并将“水果”一词置于“蔬菜”之前。我们通过语言学、心理学、植物学、营养学、健康结果以及美国当前的摄入量，研究了常用短语“水果和蔬菜”的词序，以确定这种常见的词序在健康信息中是否能最好地呈现这两种食物。通过比较10种最常食用的蔬菜和水果，我们发现蔬菜在综合营养密度指数上得分更高，并且比水果含有更少的卡路里和更多的纤维。在《2015年美国膳食指南》列出的“公众关注的营养素”中，我们确定蔬菜比水果是这些营养素的更好来源，尽管水果的抗氧化剂含量得分更高。在观察性队列研究中，发现食用蔬菜和水果与降低死亡率有关。最后，蔬菜和水果的每日摄入量均低于推荐量，但蔬菜的差距更大——尤其是在儿童中——这表明更迫切需要推广蔬菜。出于这些原因，未来同时提倡两者的健康信息应有意将“蔬菜”放在首位，以促进摄入量，并强调它们对健康贡献的重要性。
