Office veggies: Placing vegetables in public areas raises consumption by almost double, finds study

27-Mar-2017 - Last updated on 28-Mar-2017 at 14:04 GMT

Placing free vegetables for snacking in public places can nearly double a person's daily veg intake ©iStock

Dutch researchers have found vegetable consumption can be increased dramatically using simple placement techniques in public places such as offices and hospitals.

Efforts to improve the public diet and increase the quantity of fruits and vegetables people eat have been constant, but people still do not eat the recommended quantity.

The Dutch public consume on average 130 g of vegetables a day, just over half the amount recommended by the Netherland’s Nutrition Centre (Voedingscentrum) of 250 g.

A team of Dutch researchers, funded by the trade group that represents the interests of the fruit and vegetable sector in the Netherlands GroentenFruitHuis, experimented with ways of increasing vegetable intake by placing free samples in public places.

Viktor Immink, a marketing researcher at Wageningen University’s economic research department, said: “The challenge was to get this average higher, and the workplace is a good context in which to do this.The lunch canteen seems an obvious one but when we tried it was a hard place to effect because people just want their meals.

"We looked for other moments, and found business meetings and hospitals were ideal. We placed pots of vegetables and cookies in these locations to measure the conflict between the two options. We offered vegetables in porcelain bowls and in one kilo boxes.

“We saw an enormous increase in consumption from the porcelain bowl – up to an average of 97 g per person per sitting. So that’s almost half the recommended daily intake in one go.”

When vegetables were placed in porcelain bowls during business meetings, average intake per person was at 80 grams per person. This was not affected when cookies were added as another option.

When each person was given a personal box of vegetables, the average consumption rose to 97 g per person.

Immink said further research was needed to determine whether the free vegetables were taken as a novelty.

If free vegetables were provided in public places every day, people may revert to eating the cookies instead, Immink said.

Recent studies in the UK have shown that public education is simply not enough to make the required changes a reality.