The positive influence of state agricultural marketing programs on adults' fruit and vegetable consumption.

Purpose: To assess whether state-sponsored agricultural marketing programs had a positive influence on adult consumers' fruit and vegetable consumption.

Design: Differences in fruit and vegetable consumption between 2000 and 2005 in states that initiated marketing campaigns during this period and those that did not were examined.

Subjects: A representative sample (n  =  237,320) of adults aged 18 and older from states with and without marketing programs was used. The study used data from the 2000 and 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Measures: The number of fruit and vegetable servings per week and the percentage of respondents consuming five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day were examined.

Analysis: Between-subjects analysis of variance and logistic regression.

Results: In the absence of a marketing campaign, there was a significant decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption between 2000 and 2005. In states with campaigns, consumption remained stable or increased. Marketing effects were stronger for women than for men. Conclusions . State-sponsored agricultural marketing programs had favorable effects on consumers' consumption of fruits and vegetables.