Fruits, vegetables overlooked by healing hear...( ed many people to take action on reduci...),Health

But these same patients, who apparently did so well cutting down fat intake, made little progress during the same time toward eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. After two years, only 23 percent were at the maintenance stage, while 59 percent had slid down the ladder to the pre-contemplation or contemplation stages.

"There is no evidence that movement within the stages of change for one behavior was related to movement within the stages of change for the other food behavior," Frame says.

The findings about dietary fat, while encouraging, still left Frame concerned. For one thing, similar research on fat in the general population shows that most subjects remained in the ignorant or apathetic stages. In addition, what appears to be better results in reducing fat intake may be partially due to "deliberate misrepresentations by patients to avoid criticism and gain social conformity and social approval" from doctors, dietitians, family and friends, Frame says.

The problem may be due to the notions of the two different kinds of foods that patients bring with them to the rehab program. Fat was already seen as not a heart-healthy choice.

"But many patients perceived little or no relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and cardiovascular health," says Frame.

Funding for this project was provided by the Institute of Nutrition, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and by the Committee on Institutional Service and Research, Murray State University.

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Contact: Sherry McClain
sherry.mcclain@murraystate.edu
270-762-3156
Center for the Advancement of Health
25-Aug-2003