Background: Fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in black men are far below national recommendations. Methods: Urban, primarily immigrant, black men (n = 490) from the New York City metropolitan area participating in the Cancer Awareness and Prevention (CAP) Trial (2005-2007) were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups: 1) FV Education (FVE) or 2) Prostate Education (PE). Both interventions entailed a mailed brochure plus two tailored telephone education (TTE) calls. Outcomes, measured at baseline and at eight months, included knowledge of FV recommendations, perceived benefits, stage of readiness to adopt recommendations and self-reported FV consumption. Results: At follow-up, the FVE group consumed an average of 1.2 more FV servings per day than the PE group (P < 0.001; adjusted for baseline). The FVE group also demonstrated increases in knowledge about recommended FV amounts (P < 0.01) and appropriate serving sizes (P < 0.05), and in the percent of participants moving from a lower to a higher stage of readiness to adopt FV recommendations (P < 0.05). The FVE group did not demonstrate increases in knowledge related to the importance of eating a colorful variety or in the ability to name potential health benefits. Conclusions: TTE can be a practical and moderately effective intervention for raising awareness of FV recommendations and for promoting FV consumption in urban and primarily immigrant black men. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Men Minority Telephone education diet Fruits and vegetables Immigrant population Randomized clinical trial

West Indies urban population urban area Prostatic Neoplasms Negro immigrant controlled clinical trial health promotion clinical trial Vegetables fruit prostate cancer portion size follow up human Self Report middle aged controlled study priority journal randomized controlled trial cancer prevention Aged eating Vegetation knowledge United States Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants Africa Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice patient education Article Telephone major clinical study awareness adult diet supplementation outcome assessment food intake African Americans teaching