Relationship of increased fruit/vegetable intake with reduced consumption of sweets: Psychological mechanisms and associated weight loss in women within behavioral obesity treatments.

Although an increase in fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption in adults might result in reductions in their intake of sweets, there has been minimal direct testing of this. Women participated in 6-month community-based obesity treatment conditions where either their psychological skills development ( = 66) or knowledge regarding healthful eating and exercise ( = 39) was emphasized. Improvements in FV and sweets intake, eating-related self-regulation, self-efficacy for controlled eating, and negative mood were significantly more pronounced in the psychological skills group participants.