Evidence is accumulating to suggest that vegetables consumption provides a number of health benefits. In particular, epidemiological evidence shown that high vegetable intakes are associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. In addition, vegetables have a strong anti-obesity effect that may in some part explain the protection they give against other diseases. Vegetables are beneficial to weight management because they are good sources of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, but poor sources of energy. In comparison, processed foods, confectionary and high fat foods tend to contain concentrated forms of energy but are deficient in nutrients. Increasing vegetable consumption can therefore be an effective strategy to aid weight loss, however, vegetables tend to be either bland or unappealing to many. Research using children has shown that puréed vegetables is an effective way to covertly increase vegetable consumption.
Researchers1 have also investigated the effects of puréed vegetables on the ability to increase consumption and to reduce energy intakes in adults. In 3 week a cross over designed study, 20 men and 21 women were allowed to eat an ad libitum quantities of carrot bread (breakfast), macaroni and cheese (lunch), and rice casserole (dinner). The meals consisted of control foods or versions with 3 or 4.5 times the amount of puréed vegetables which provided 85% or 75% of the energy of the control. Side dishes to the entrees were not manipulated and the subjects were requested to rate their appetite and satiety before and after eating. The results showed that subjects tended to eat the same weight of foods across the three conditions with the results that energy intakes went down by 202 kcal and 357 kcal in the 85% and 75% energy foods.
These results support the idea that vegetables are an effective way to reduce energy intakes. Interestingly, ratings of appetite and satiety did not differ despite the reduced energy intake, suggesting that this may be an effective strategy to aid weight loss. The study also demonstrated that vegetable consumption increased from 270 g of vegetables in the control group, to 401g of vegetables in the 85% treatment, and to 487g vegetables in the 75% treatment. The typical Western diet is too high in energy dense foods and contain too few vegetables. In comparison, the typical Mediterranean diet is high in fruits and vegetables, and low in sugar and processed foods. These differences are reflected in the disease rates between these two diets, with the Mediterranean diet being protective of cardiovascular disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
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