Low intake of fruits and vegetables in Thailand : magnitude, disease burden and urban influence
type: CreativeWork
description: Thailand is now encountering nutrition and epidemiology transitions triggered by economy, demography, globalization and urbanization influences. A rise in chronic non-communicable diseases, coupled with the existing malnutrition problems addresses the recent national concerns. Fruits and vegetables, as healthful food choices, can play an important part in alleviating this situation and preventing those health problems of both under- and overnutrition. This study aimed to demonstrate the current situation of low intake of fruits and vegetables in Thailand, as well as its potential impact that increased fruit and vegetable intake could help save life lost from cardiovascular diseases and selected cancers, and the potential influence of urbanization towards changes in fruit and vegetable consumption. The combined methods of quantitative and qualitative investigations were applied. Thailand's 2006 5th National Nutrition Survey and Thailand's 2007 Burden of Disease Study were key data sources used in the quantitative section. In the qualitative part, focus group interviews approach was applied to investigate in 4 main provinces in different regions of the country, including Bangkok Metropolitan. The findings showed that consumption levels of fruits, vegetables and combined fruits and vegetables in Thailand were remarkably low. Consumption was higher for vegetables than fruits. The differences in intakes were significantly apparent across age groups, areas of residence and geographical regions. The contribution of composite foods is higher to total vegetables (13.9 percent) than total fruits (2.2 percent). In terms of compliance with the dietary guidelines, only 4.3 percent were indicated as sufficient consumers. For the Thais aged 15 years and over, up to 15 percent and 24 percent of the disease burden estimates or about 13,000 and 21,000 deaths annually in Thailand would be potentially preventable if people across the country consumed at either the minimum recommended a…
abstract: Thailand is now encountering nutrition and epidemiology transitions triggered by economy, demography, globalization and urbanization influences. A rise in chronic non-communicable diseases, coupled with the existing malnutrition problems addresses the recent national concerns. Fruits and vegetables, as healthful food choices, can play an important part in alleviating this situation and preventing those health problems of both under- and overnutrition. This study aimed to demonstrate the current situation of low intake of fruits and vegetables in Thailand, as well as its potential impact that increased fruit and vegetable intake could help save life lost from cardiovascular diseases and selected cancers, and the potential influence of urbanization towards changes in fruit and vegetable consumption. The combined methods of quantitative and qualitative investigations were applied. Thailand's 2006 5th National Nutrition Survey and Thailand's 2007 Burden of Disease Study were key data sources used in the quantitative section. In the qualitative part, focus group interviews approach was applied to investigate in 4 main provinces in different regions of the country, including Bangkok Metropolitan. The findings showed that consumption levels of fruits, vegetables and combined fruits and vegetables in Thailand were remarkably low. Consumption was higher for vegetables than fruits. The differences in intakes were significantly apparent across age groups, areas of residence and geographical regions. The contribution of composite foods is higher to total vegetables (13.9 percent) than total fruits (2.2 percent). In terms of compliance with the dietary guidelines, only 4.3 percent were indicated as sufficient consumers. For the Thais aged 15 years and over, up to 15 percent and 24 percent of the disease burden estimates or about 13,000 and 21,000 deaths annually in Thailand would be potentially preventable if people across the country consumed at either the minimum recommended a…
author: Bunngamchairat, Ariya
date published: 2008-03-20
date modified: 2026-07-27T18:49:52Z
provider: Universität Bielefeld
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Universität Bielefeld