文章基本信息

标题：Appealing to Vanity: Could Potential Appearance Improvement Motivate Fruit and Vegetable Consumption?
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作者：Ross D. Whitehead ; Gozde Ozakinci ; Ian D. Stephen 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2012
卷号：102
期号：2
页码：207-211
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2011.300405
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：Fruit and vegetable consumption is inadequate among adults in the United States; this contributes to preventable morbidity and mortality. More effective dietary intervention strategies are needed. Recently, interventions that advertise the consequences of behavior for appearance have been successful in modifying sun-exposure habits and tobacco use. Such an approach might also facilitate dietary improvement. Consumption of carotenoid-rich fruit and vegetables positively affects skin color, which influences perceptions of health and attractiveness, and promoting such an effect may motivate target audiences to increase consumption of this important food group. This approach represents a novel direction for the field and is potentially suitable for cost-effective, population-level dissemination through the visual media. Inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption is an enduring problem that presents a significant challenge to human well-being, precipitating an estimated 2.6 million deaths per year worldwide 1 and placing a preventable burden on health systems, chiefly through incidences of cardiovascular disease, 2 diabetes and its complications, 3 and possibly some cancers. 4 The Produce for Better Health Foundation's 2010 Gap Analysis revealed considerable discrepancy between the US Department of Agriculture's 2005 dietary guidelines and recent estimates of fruit and vegetable consumption. 5 To redress this balance, it is important to develop new public health strategies to facilitate population-level dietary improvement. Current campaigns with this objective, such as the World Health Organization's 5-a-day scheme 6 and the Fruits and Veggies—More Matters program of the Produce for Better Health Foundation 7 predominantly aim to provide individuals with information on the health benefits of fruit and vegetables. As highlighted in the 2010 Gap Analysis , however, recent evidence suggests that fruit and vegetable consumption has declined since the inception of such campaigns, suggesting that health information alone may not be sufficient to motivate adherence to recommendations at a population level. It may be that these campaigns have succeeded in making individuals aware of what constitutes a healthy diet but failed to motivate them to act on this knowledge. 8,9