Eating fruits and vegetables prevents heart disease and obesity. They extend your life.
But these reasons may not be enough to prompt Americans across the country to eat them.
In 2009, only a third of adults ate two servings of fruit a day, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 26 percent of adults ate vegetables three or more times a day.
Those are the daily-recommended servings, according to the CDC.
The federal agency analyzed fruit and vegetable consumption among adults between 2000 and 2009.
None of the country came close to meeting the agency’s goal to have 75 percent of all Americans eating enough fruit and 50 percent eating enough vegetables.
The Great Lakes region fared average when it came to fruit consumption. Five of the eight states in the region: New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan Minnesota, were in the top 25 states with the highest percentages of fruit consumption.
Indiana and Ohio were in the lower 50 percent of fruit consumption.
Vegetable consumption was generally low nationwide. Most Great Lake states were even worse, falling well below the 26.3 percent national average of people eating the recommended amount of vegetables.
“In no state are people eating enough fruits and vegetables to meet those guidelines,” said Jennifer Foltz, an author of the report. “It is very disappointing not to meet these goals.”
Northeastern states had higher percentages of adults meeting the recommended amount of fruit. The District of Columbia ranked highest for fruit consumption; Oklahoma ranked lowest.
“The west coast and northeast tended to have generally better consumption patterns,” said Foltz. “It could have something to do with the people that make up the state; different kinds of people tend to eat different amounts of fruits and vegetables.”
The authors also analyzed consumption over the past nine years.
National vegetable consumption changed little. Fruit consumption decreased by 2 percentage points. In Michigan the percent of adults meeting the fruit recommendation decreased by 5 percentage points, one of the largest drops by any state.
“The most recent report was a complete look across the decade, giving us a big picture of fruit and vegetable consumption,” said Grimm. “The findings are consistent with what we found in this report last year; with a few exceptions it’s pretty much the same. Across the board, it is low.”
Access, availability and cost are important to ensuring that it is easy for people to eat fruits and vegetables, according to the CDC.
“There is a myriad of things that play into ultimately meeting fruit and vegetable consumption,” said Grimm. “It has to do with both consumer knowledge and availability; it’s not just about one thing.”
The CDC says that farmers markets accepting more forms of payment for low-income individuals may increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
Farmers markets are one way of increasing produce consumption.
“Just having the farmers markets in your community and the sites where you live, work and play makes it easier,” said Foltz. “If they are the easy and convenient choice people are more likely to purchase them.”
The kinds of payment accepted at farmers markets could also affect consumption, the report noted. Markets that accept WIC coupons: supplemental income for women, infants and children, and other food stamps, make produce more available to people of low income.
The report showed that adults with higher incomes ate more fruits and vegetables.
Twenty-one states also have farm to school programs, which encourage local, healthy produce to be included in school meals.
In 2009, three Great Lake states — Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania – had these programs. Programs in Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio were pending.
There are also 20 state food policy councils around the country. These councils bring government officials and citizens together to examine state and local food systems and can help encourage healthy eating, according to the CDC. The groups develop food and agricultural policies and recommendations. Half of the eight Great Lake states (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and New York) have them.
“It is very important for policy makers and public health officials and community members to realize the role they can play to increase political and environmental supports, not just behavioral,” said Grimm.
According to the CDC, Michigan’s food policy council has been particularly active. The state’s council began in 2005 and now has 25 members.
The CDC has written action guides for each state, which include tips and resources for improving programs and policy.
Many of them suggest that the states encourage the production, distribution and procurement of food from local farms and to offer more fruits and vegetables as competing options to junk food in schools.
Officials said they are disappointed but not surprised. They have been watching fruit and vegetable consumption levels stay low for years.
“I think these results are particularly concerning,” said Grimm. “Unfortunately, it seems to confirm what we thought was the case all along.”