Fruit and Veggie Lovers Can Still Gain Weight . . .

This is an appropriate follow-up to my post last week: “It’s the Calories, Stupid!”  A large European study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, assessed dietary intake in 373,800 participants from 10 countries at baseline.  This was the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study.  Body weight was measured at baseline and self-reported at follow-ups.  Follow-up averaged 5 years.  Attention was focused on weight changes in association with fruit and vegetable intake.  People with chronic diseases and those who were likely to misreport calorie intake were excluded from the analyses.

The participants in the study gained about one pound a year, on average, over the 5 years.  After appropriate adjustments for any differences in age and gender between groups, analyses showed that baseline fruit and vegetable intakes were not associated with weight change overall; however, they were linked with weight changes in participants who quit smoking during follow-up. Higher fruit and vegetable intakes were linked to less weight gain in people who quit smoking during the study.

The investigators speculate that healthy eating habits (i.e. more fruit and veggies) may help prevent the weight gain many smokers experience when they try to quit.  So this study may offer would-be quitters encouragement to improve their dietary habits.  However, it doesn’t provide any evidence that a fruit/vegetable diet will help stop weight gain in the majority of people.  Calories are still king!