Cited by 397Nutritional Studies and DietNutrition, Health and Food BehaviorObesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Changes in Intake of Fruits and Vegetables and Weight Change in United States Men and Women Followed for Up to 24 Years: Analysis from Three Prospective Cohort Studies

Open access
Bertoia, Monica L., Mukamal, Kenneth J., Cahill, Leah E., Hou, Tao, Ludwig, David S., Mozaffarian, Dariush, Willett, Walter C., Hu, Frank B. +1 more·2015·PLOS Medicine

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Current dietary guidelines recommend eating a variety of fruits and vegetables. However, based on nutrient composition, some particular fruits and vegetables may be more or less beneficial for maintaining or achieving a healthy weight. We hypothesized that greater consumption of fruits and vegetables with a higher fiber content or lower glycemic load would be more strongly associated with a healthy weight. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We examined the association between change in intake of specific fruits and vegetables and change in weight in three large, prospective cohorts of 133,468 United States men and women. From 1986 to 2010, these associations were examined within multiple 4-y time intervals, adjusting for simultaneous changes in other lifestyle factors, including other aspects of diet, smoking status, and physical activity. Results were combined using a random effects meta-analysis. Increased intake of fruits was inversely associated with 4-y weight change: total fruits -0.53 lb per daily serving (95% CI -0.61, -0.44), berries -1.11 lb (95% CI -1.45, -0.78), and apples/pears -1.24 lb (95% CI -1.62, -0.86). Increased intake of several vegetables was also inversely associated with weight change: total vegetables -0.25 lb per daily serving (95% CI -0.35, -0.14), tofu/soy -2.47 lb (95% CI, -3.09 to -1.85 lb) and cauliflower -1.37 lb (95% CI -2.27, -0.47). On the other hand, increased intake of starchy vegetables, including corn, peas, and potatoes, was associated with weight gain. Vegetables having both higher fiber and lower glycemic load were more strongly inversely associated with weight change compared with lower-fiber, higher-glycemic-load vegetables (p < 0.0001). Despite the measurement of key confounders in our analyses, the potential for residual confounding cannot be ruled out, and although our food frequency questionnaire specified portion size, the assessment of diet using any method will have measurement error. CONCLUSIONS: Increased consumption of fruits and non-starchy vegetables is inversely associated with weight change, with important differences by type suggesting that other characteristics of these foods influence the magnitude of their association with weight change.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001878

Cites

36 of 36 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Bertoia, M. L., Mukamal, K. J., Cahill, L. E., Hou, T., Ludwig, D. S., Mozaffarian, D., Willett, W. C., Hu, F. B., & Rimm, E. B.
Affiliations
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Boston Children's Hospital (US)
  • Tufts University (US)
Corresponding author
Bertoia, Monica L.
Venue
PLOS Medicine
Published
2015-09-22
Volume
12
Issue
9
Pages
e1001878
ISSN
  • 1549-1277 (ISSN-L)
  • 1549-1676
OpenAlex
W1915710460
Cited by
397
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 2
FWCI
37.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (R01 HL088521)
  • Amarin Corporation
  • National Institutes of Health (5r01ca049449-18, R01 CA49449, UM1-CA-176726, UM1-CA167552, CA176726, CA-167552, CA67262, CA 87969)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL035464, R01 HL35464, R01HL034594, R01HL088521)
  • National Cancer Institute (R01-CA49449, P01CA087969, R01‐CA049449, UM1CA176726, R01 CA67262, UM1CA167552, R01CA067262, [P01 CA87969)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K24DK082730)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
Keywords
fruits, vegetables, weight change, weight gain, dietary fiber, glycemic load, berries, cauliflower, starchy vegetables, potato, maize, pea, longitudinal dietary change, obesity prevention, healthy weight maintenance, prospective cohort, random-effects meta-analysis, residual confounding, sex differences, United States adults, physical activity
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Body Weight, Female, Fruit, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, United States, Vegetables

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review