Americans’ consumption of fruits and vegetables falls short
of Food Guide Pyramid recommendations. But not for lack of choice
(see “Global Trade in Fruits and Vegetables Brings Variety
to the Nation’s Grocery Stores”). Still, the
Produce for Better Health Foundation found that only 38 percent
of Americans consumed the recommended 3-5 daily servings of vegetables,
while just 23 percent consumed the recommended 2-4 servings of fruit.
Other research has shown that low-income households (those households
with incomes less than or equal to 130 percent of the poverty line)
consume even less fruits and vegetables, prompting ERS researchers
to compare the choices that low-income and high-income households
make at the grocery store. Nineteen percent of low-income households
(versus 10 percent of higher income households) bought no fruits
and vegetables from grocery stores and other at-home sources over
a 2-week survey period in 2000. This gap persisted over the entire
expenditure distribution. For example, half of the low-income households
had weekly fruit and vegetable purchases of $2.50 or less per person,
whereas half of higher income households had per person expenditures
of $4 or less. This gap in the expenditure distributions includes
significant differences in average fruit and vegetable expenditures—$3.59
per person per week for low-income households versus $5.02 for
higher
income households. These results held when purchases were broken
out into just fresh or just processed fruits and vegetables.
The ERS study also examined how spending by low-income households
would change if they received a marginal amount of additional income.
That is, would small increases in their incomes be spent on additional
fruits and vegetables, or on other food or nonfood items, such as
meats, cereals, bakery products, or clothing? The ERS study found
that small changes in income had a positive and statistically significant
effect on fruit and vegetable spending by higher income households,
but had no impact on spending by low-income households. Low-income
households may perceive other goods as more essential to the household
than fruits and vegetables, and would thus spend small increases
in income on these items.
Interestingly, the largest positive influence on fruit and vegetable
expenditures was having a college-educated head of household,
regardless
of income level. In fact, college-educated households had the highest
level of per capita fruit and vegetable expenditures ($5.99 per
person per week).
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