Research

Energy balance

Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption without substituting other foods leads to a small but significant reduction in body weight (approx. 0.68 kg) and does not increase energy intake in the short term.

To manage weight, simply increase your daily fruit and vegetable intake by about 133 grams (roughly one to one-and-a-half extra portions) without worrying about cutting out other foods. Over a few months, this addition is associated with a small but statistically significant weight reduction (approx. 0.7 kg) compared to not increasing intake, without requiring you to restrict other food groups.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
The mean change in body weight was 0.68 kg (95% CI: 0.15-1.20; n = 8; I2 for heterogeneity = 83%, p = 0.01) less in the “high vegetable and fruit” intake arms than in the “low vegetable and fruit intake” arms... There was no significant difference in measured change daily energy intake between the two arms (368 kJ; 95% CI: −27 to 762, comparing high vs low; n = 6; I2 = 42%, p = 0.07).
Oliver Mytton et al. · BMC Public Health · 2014

Why this rating

Meta-analysis of RCTs, but high heterogeneity (I2=83%) and reliance on self-reported dietary data for energy intake.

Source

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of increased vegetable and fruit consumption on body weight and energy intake

Oliver Mytton et al. · BMC Public Health · 2014

DOI 10.1186/1471-2458-14-886

Meta-analysis · 8 studiesCited 198×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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