| Background: The development of policies for increasing fruit and vegetable
consumption is highlighted as a priority in developing countries. This review study
aimed to present the available policy options for increasing fruit and vegetable
consumption in the populations. Methods: To collect relevant English
publications, five electronic databases, including PubMed/Medline, Scopus,
Embase, ProQuest, and Ovid from 2000 until 1st January 2021 were searched. The
national or population based programs aimed to increase fruit and/or vegetable
intake were included. Four types of policy options were recognized, including food
promotion, school and workplace food environment regulations, agriculture, food
production, supply and storage, and fiscal policies. Results: Increasing consumer‘s
knowledge has been more effective in increasing fruit and vegetable consumption
among populations. However, most of the interventions in the workplace and
school emphasize increasing knowledge and changing access to healthy food.
Conclusion: In general, the evaluation of these policies has been done in the short
term and has had a moderate impact on changing dietary behavior. Agricultural
and food supply chain policies are currently less researched. Finally, recent
evidence suggests that multi
-component interventions are more effective than one
-
component interventions. |