Individual- and household-level factors associated with fruit, vegetable, and dietary fiber adequacy among Native American adults in 6 reservation communities

Abstract

This study utilized baseline data collected in 2017 from the OPREVENT2 trial, which included 540 Native Americans in six Midwest and Southwest reservation communities. The objective was to identify correlates of fruit, vegetable, and dietary fiber adequacy among participants 18-75 years old who self-identified as the main food purchaser or preparer in their household. Mean daily servings of fruits and vegetables and grams of dietary fiber were quantified based on a 30-day semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Participants consumed an average of 0.5 (±0.4) cup-equivalent servings of fruit, 2.5 (±1.8) cup-equivalent servings of vegetables, and 15.5 (±8.9) grams of fiber per day. <2% of the study population met the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations for fruit consumption, while 12 and 42% met recommendations for dietary fiber and vegetable consumption, respectively. Females had a prevalence ratio 1.4 times greater than males for adequate intakes of vegetables (p = 0.008) and over 6 times greater for dietary fiber (p < 0.001). Participants over the age of 30 were about twice as likely to meet dietary fiber recommendations (p = 0.031) compared to those 30 years and younger. Participants receiving food assistance from the USDA's Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) were nearly twice as likely as non-FDPIR recipients to meet recommendations for dietary fiber (p = 0.008). These findings can help guide the development of targeted interventions to improve diet quality; however, further work is needed to understand and address underlying reasons for low fruit consumption in these rural reservation communities.

Keywords: Dietary fiber; Fruit; Native American; Vegetables.