ABSTRACT

 The consequences oflow consumption offruits and vegetable causes high incidence of chronic diseases such as obesity and cardiovascular events. Irrefutably, fruits and vegetable consumption is of supreme importance in the prevention of chronic diseases and hidden hunger. Incidence of non communicable chronic diseases and diet related diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers are on the increase in Nigeria. Fruits and vegetables are consumes but the actual quantity consumed tends to be less than what is recommended. Little or no work has been done on this study hence the need to carry out this research. This study was designed to assess the nutritional knowledge, attitude,and perception of older persons 60 years and above towards the consumption offruits and vegetables in Aba North local government area, in Abia state. The study is a cross sectional survey. A total of 236 older adults were randomly selected for this study. A well structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the on the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, attitude of the respondents to fruits and vegetables, perception of the respondents to fruits and vegetables, the consumption pattern ofthe respondents to fruits and vegetables and the relationship between the knowledge of the respondents and their socioeconomic characteristics. The questionnaire was coded and entered with data collected into the computer using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Chi-square analysis was used to assess the relationship between the knowledge of the respondents and their socioeconomic characteristics. The result indicates that majority ofthe respondents (53.4%) studied were females, more than a quarter ofthe respondents (46.4%) were males. More than halfofthe respondents (51.7%) studied were between the ages of 60-65 years. The study showed that majority ofthe respondents (90.3%) have good knowledge of fruits and vegetables. About (94.1%) of the respondents have a positive attitude to fruits and vegetables. While about (97.9%) of the respondents have a positive approach to fruits. The cost, income, preference, cultural difference, availability and seasonality of the fruits and vegetable are factors that affect consumption of fruits and vegetables. The chi-square analysis showed that there was significant relationship between knowledge grade on fruits and vegetables consumption of older persons with the age group, educational qualification and monthly income. This implies that the income, educational qualification, and age affected the consumption offruits and vegetables. According to the survey most of the respondents consumed less than the recommend dietary allowance for fruits and vegetables.