Adults’ beliefs about eating the USDA vegetable subgroups: A Reasoned Action Approach Elicitation

A healthy diet includes quantity (e.g. cups per day) and a variety of vegetables. The Dietary Guidelines recommends consuming vegetables from five subgroups (dark green, red/orange, beans/peas/lentils, starchy, and other vegetables). Despite being introduced almost 20 years ago most Americans are not eating within all of the subgroups, therefore thepurpose of this study was to assess if there are differences in beliefs pertaining to eating within the vegetable subgroups,using the Reasoned Action Approach. A nationwide convenience sample of adults (19-59 years old) were recruited via Forthright Access. Volunteers were sent an online survey and randomized to one of six groups: one of the five vegetable subgroups, or an overall vegetable group. Participants (n=180; 30 per group) were informed of the recommendation for their group and given several examples (Appendix 1). Four types of beliefs were elicited using open-ended questions (behavioral, injunctive normative, descriptive normative and control beliefs). Next, belief types were blinded by group and coded into distinct categories by two independent coders. No demographic variables differed between groups. There were no significant differences in the average number of behavioral, injunctive normative, descriptive normative or control beliefs between groups (all p’s>0.05). There were also no significant differences in the distribution of the belief types (all p’s>0.05). Taste and enjoyment, health benefits, and cost were common factors reported for consuming all vegetable subgroups. Adults appeared to be generally unaware of the differences in nutrient profiles and health benefits of different vegetable subgroups, therefore public health interventions should be developed to overcome this lack of awareness.