RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: WHO recommends a minimum of 400 g of fruit and vegetables per day for theprevention of Non Communicable Chronic diseases. Thus we aimed to study fruit and vegetableconsumption in Mongolian population.OBJECTIVE: To assess fruits and vegetables consumption in Mongolian population.Methods. A total of 6005 randomly selected 15-64 year-old Mongolian residents from the surveyareas participated in this survey. For calculating the survey sample size, the prevalence ofoverweight and obesity identified during the previous STEP survey was used. Study participantswere asked about of fruits and vegetables consumption per day in a typical week. Fruits andvegetables consumption were estimated in terms of “number of servings/day”. The percentage ofthe population whom consumed fruits and vegetables by “1-2 servings/day”, “3-4 servings/day”, and“5 servings day” were estimated, respectively. Data analysis was performed using Epi Info version3.5.1 using appropriate methods for the complex sample design of the survey. Outcome measuresand differences between groups were calculated with 95% confidence intervals.RESULTS: Daily consumption of fruits and vegetables was 1.5 servings in the survey population, and1.8 servings (95% CI 1.5-20) in urban population and 1.2 servings (95% CI 1.0-1.4) in rural population.Fruits and vegetables consumption in rural population were lower in 0.6 servings compared tourban population (95% CI 1.0-1.4, 1.5-2.0). Overall, 96.4% of the survey population was consumedless than 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. In terms of a number of servings fruits andvegetables consumed daily, 49.3% (95% CI 44.3-54.3) had 1-2 servings, 9.4% (95% CI 6.9-11.8)had 3-4 servings and 3.6% (95% CI 2.7-4.6)- 5 or more servings/d. These findings suggested thatthe majority of the survey population consumed 1-2 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.CONCLUSIONS: Average daily servings of fruit and vegetables were 1.5 in the Mongolian population,which was 3.5 servings less than the WHO recommendation. 96.4% of the survey population wereconsumed less than 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day. Fruits and vegetables consumptionin rural population were lower in 0.6 servings compared to urban population.