The relationship between height and fruit/vegetable intakes in adults: a nationwide cross-sectional study

• Autor(a) principal: Rosário, Rafaela
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Agostinis-Sobrinho, Cesar, Padrão, Patrícia, Lopes, Oscar, Moreira, Pedro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/87109
• topic: Adults; Body height; Cross-sectional; Fruit; Vegetable

Background: Worldwide, fruit and vegetable intake is below recommendations. There is increasing evidence to suggest an association between height and diet. Aim: to analyse the associations of fruit and vegetable intake with attained height in Portuguese adults. Methods: A representative sample of 17 480 Portuguese adults (56.7% women) participated in this cross-sectional study. The survey comprised sociodemographic characteristics and self-reported height and weight. We performed regression models to assess the associations between height and fruit and vegetable consumption. Results: Compared with no intakes, those men with higher fruit and vegetables intake had 0.54 cm (95% CI 0.04; 1.04) greater height. Also, women with higher intakes of vegetables, fruit and vegetables combined were directly associated with a greater height of 0.29 cm (95% CI 0.03; 0.56 in vegetables) and 0.51 cm (95% CI 0.09; 0.93 in fruit and vegetables combined). Conclusion: Greater consumption of fruit and vegetables was directly associated with higher height in adults. From a health promotion perspective, intervention programmes aiming at improving fruit and vegetable intake should be highlighted so that full height potential is achieved.