Physical activity is connected with fruit and vegetable intake

Is physical activity connected with fruit and vegetable intake? The answer is “yes” according to a recent study. Many causes of morbidity and mortality are influenced highly by behaviors such healthy nutrition (such intake of fruit and vegetables) and physical activity. Understanding the relationship between physical activity and healthy eating is important as finding a strong correlation between these two behaviors means that changing the one can potentially bring change also to the other.

A group of German scientists assessed physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake of 2693 adults via web-based questionnaires twice in a 4-week period. The researchers used a wide variety of measures to assess both of the behaviors, such as the average numbers that participants engage in both of the behaviors each month and whether they intent to engage more or less frequently in those behaviors in the future.

Results showed that there is a positive association between physical activity and fruit/vegetables intake, meaning that people who exercise more frequently tend to eat more vegetables and fruits. Authors concluded that physical activity and vegetable and fruit intake potentially share similarities. Therefore, changing both behaviors simultaneously does not seem to overburden individuals.

References

Fleig L, Kuper C, Lippke S, et al. (2015) Cross-behavior associations and multiple health behavior change: A longitudinal study on physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake. Journal of Health Psychology 20: 525–534.