New study shows drinking your vegetables may be a solution to bridging the veg...( CHICAGO October 24 2008 Making veg...)

CHICAGO, October 24, 2008 Making vegetable juice a daily habit could be a small step that can lead to big changes in meeting daily vegetable recommendations, according to a new study being presented by researchers from the University of California-Davis this week at the American Dietetic Association annual conference¹.

With seven out of 10 adults falling short of the daily recommended vegetable intake as put forth by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, researchers studied whether drinking vegetable juice could be a simple behavior change to help boost the intake of this critical food group². And it was.

The study looked at three groups of healthy men and women. All three groups received dietary counseling on ways to get more vegetables, but only two of the groups were instructed to consume at least one serving of vegetable juice, in the form of V8 100% vegetable juice each day. Of those two groups, one drank one 8-ounce glass of vegetable juice every day and the other drank two 8-ounce glasses of vegetable juice every day as part of a balanced eating plan.

The study found that those who received dietary counseling and consumed vegetable juice were far more likely to meet the daily vegetable recommendations, about two and a half cups (five servings), than those who received counseling alone. Specifically, more than half of the participants who drank one serving of V8 100% vegetable juice met the recommendations, as did all of those who drank two 8-ounce glasses of V8 100% vegetable juice each day. Of those who did not drink any vegetable juice, less than a quarter got enough vegetables.

Researchers concluded that changing dietary behavior is much more effective when dietary advice is complemented with tangible, real, easy and convenient solutions.

"What we found in this study is that drinking vegetable juice seemed to address some of the key barriers to vegetable consumption such as convenience, port
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