Disparities in State-Specific Adult Fruit and Vegetable Consumption — United States, 2015

Abstract

What is already known about this topic? Consuming enough fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet reduces the risk of many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity. However, the percentage of the adult population meeting fruit and vegetable intake recommendation is low. In 2013, 13.1% of respondents met fruit intake recommendations and 8.9% met vegetable recommendations. What is added by this report? Recent data show adults continue to consume too few fruits and vegetables; overall, 12.2% met fruit intake recommendations and 9.3% met vegetable intake recommendations during 2015. Consumption was lower among men, young adults, and adults with greater poverty, and varied by state. Among subgroups, the largest disparities in meeting the recommendation for fruit intake was by sex (15.1% among women compared with 9.2% among men), while the largest disparities in meeting the recommendation for vegetable intake was by poverty (11.4% among adults in the highest household income category compared with 7.0% among adults below or close to the poverty level). What are the implications for public health practice? States can use this information to inform the development of policies and programs that help all adults regardless of sociodemographic groups to consume more fruits and vegetables and thus help to prevent costly chronic diseases.