1 Unilever Brazil, Brazil; 2 Institute of Nutrition, São Paulo, Brazil
The intake of vegetables in Brazil and other South American countries remains well below amounts recommended by the WHO. One of the reasons for this is that most people not always appreciate the sensory characteristics of vegetables. This includes smell and texture, but predominantly the taste is not favoured. Some researchers demonstrated that consumption of vegetables is increased when products that aggregate flavor are added, such as dressings containing sugar and butter. However, the nutritional quality of such a final dish may be questioned, since some dressings are relatively calorie-dense and high unsaturated fatty acids. This research aimed to evaluate a) the potential of a mayonnaise for increasing the consumption of vegetables and b) the impact thereof on the quality of the diet. One hundred Brazilian women used mayonnaise when preparing vegetables at home for two weeks and responded to questionnaires about food consumption. After eight months, a part of those women was contacted to check if the initial intervention was able to change habits in long term. As result, during the two weeks test, 92% of the consumers reported increased vegetable consumption after adding mayonnaise to them. After eight months, 94% of the consumers said they were still using mayonnaise on their vegetables and it helped them to include vegetables in their regular diet. The mayonnaise used in this study contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, which contributed to the fat quality of the dish. Since mayonnaise is widely consumed in Brazil it can help people increasing their vegetable consumption, which is aligned to WHO strategies. In addition it is a source of good fats.