Effectiveness of community-based interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption

This systematic review sought to answer the question what is the effectiven ess of community-based interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consum ption in people 4 years of age and older! A search was conducted through el ectronic databases, hand-searching, and retrieval from reference lists. Eac h article retrieved was rated for relevance and validity by two independent readers, and then data abstraction was done by two people for the studies that were rated as strong or moderate. One hundred and eighty-nine articles were retrieved. Sixty were rated as relevant. After validity rating, one w as rated "strong," 17 "moderate," and 42 "weak." Four studies were targeted to parents of young children, six to school-aged children, and five to adu lts. The most effective interventions gave clear messages about increasing fruit and vegetable consumption; incorporated multiple strategies that rein forced the messages; involved the family; were more intensive; were provide d over a longer period of time, rather than one or two contacts; and were b ased on a theoretical framework. people in public health positions or makin g decisions about nutrition interventions need to give priority to those in terventions that are multipronged, flexible, open to input from target grou ps, and theoretically based.