According to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most American adults do not consume enough fruits and vegetables, and even greater disparities are seen in people in poverty.
According to a report released Thursday, only 10% of adults eat the recommended daily vegetables, and slightly more -12.3% consume enough fruit.
Recommendations are based on the USDA dietary guidelines. This guideline recommends that adults include 2-3 cups of vegetables and 1/1/2 to 2 cups of fruit daily in their diet. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables “can help protect against some chronic conditions that are one of the leading causes of death in the United States,” the study said.
Researchers have identified significant regional and demographic differences.
About 16% of Connecticut adults met the fruit recommendations, while only 8% of West Virginia adults met. On the other hand, 16% of adults in Vermont met the fruit recommendations, while only 6% of adults in Kentucky met.
Researchers found that females met the recommendations more often than men, and people over the age of 50 met the recommendations more often than younger counterparts. In addition, blacks reached their vegetable goals less often than whites and Hispanics.
According to the survey, people living below or near poverty levels were least likely to meet the vegetable recommendations, at 6.8%.
“Additional policies and programs that increase access to fruits and vegetables where US residents live, learn, work and play may increase consumption and improve health,” the study said.
The survey was conducted through a behavioral risk factor monitoring system that has been collecting information on American fruit and vegetable consumption for over 30 years and was attended by 294,566 participants.
The survey included data for 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Researchers pointed out that barriers to health foods, such as cost, availability and access restrictions, “may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In its recommendations, the CDC supports a community retail program where states and communities “attract grocery stores and supermarkets to poorly serviced communities to improve their food quality” and buy low-income earners. He advised that we can encourage participation in federal nutrition support programs that support. Healthy food.
Supply chain issues related to pandemics are affecting people in the food desert in particular, Jeri Henchi, head of nutrition policy at the Food Research and Action Center, told ABC News.
“People living in communities who had problems with the availability of high quality and affordable produce were exacerbated during COVID due to supply chain problems,” she said.
Henchi is also particularly pandemic to promote participation in federal food assistance programs such as the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Special Supplementary Nutrition Programs (WIC) for women, toddlers and children.
Over the past fall, SNAP’s average benefit has increased by $ 36.24 per person per month, and the government has expanded its increase in fruit and vegetable WIC benefits until March. “Of course, there are many qualified people who aren’t in the program,” Henchy said, but these measures should have a positive impact on food and vegetable consumption.
According to the latest federal data, over 80% of eligible Americans participate in SNAP, and about half of WIC eligible.
Sony Salzman of ABC News contributed to this report.
