Review Article Religiosity and Spirituality and the Intake of Fruit, Vegetable, and Fat: A Systematic Review

Copyright © 2013 Min-Min Tan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objectives. To systematically review articles investigating the relationship between religion and spirituality (R/S) and fruit, vegetable, and fat intake.Methods. PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycInfo were searched for studies published in English prior to March 2013. The studies were divided into two categories: denominational studies and degree of R/S studies. The degree of R/S studies was further analyzed to (1) determine the categories of R/S measures and their relationship with fruit, vegetable, and fat intake, (2) evaluate the quality of the R/S measures and the research design, and (3) determine the categories of reported relationship. Results. Thirty-nine studies were identified.Therewere 14 denominational studies and 21 degree of R/S studies, and 4 studies were a combination of both. Only 20 % of the studies reported validity and 52 % reported reliability of the R/S measures used. All studies were cross-sectional, and only one attempted mediation analysis. Most studies showed a positive association with fruit and vegetable intake and a mixed association with fat intake.Conclusion.The positive association between R/S and fruit and vegetable intakemay be one possible link between R/S and positive health outcome. However, the association with fat intake was mixed, and recommendations for future research are made. 1