DEFINING THE YEAR-2000 FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GOAL

Various nutrition guidelines recommend increased consumption of fruits and vegetables (F+V); a Year 2000 goal targets five or more daily ser vings of F+V. Decisions are needed regarding how to define F+V to faci litate measurement of goal achievement. Four alternative definitions ( narrow and broad, each with and without legumes) were developed and ap plied to food frequencies from 133 children and 211 parents. Results v aried by definition. Mean intake met the goal of five or more daily se rvings regardless of definition and exceeded it for both broad definit ions by children and both broad definitions and the narrow definition with legumes for adults. Median intakes met the goal for all definitio ns except for children with the narrow definition without legumes, and exceeded it for children with both broad definitions and for adults w ith the broad definition with legumes. These differences by definition indicate that a clear definition of F+V is needed.