Fruit and Vegetable Consumption - Women in United States

United States

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published jointly by the United States Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services, recommends that adults consume two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables daily. Roughly half of all adults in the U.S. suffer from one or more preventable chronic diseases related to poor diet and physical inactivity. Diets high in fruits and vegetables can help lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and prevent some types of cancer. Consuming fruits and vegetables three or more times daily is associated with a lower overall mortality risk. Additionally, consuming vegetables and fruits during pregnancy may help women get essential nutrients such as vitamin A, potassium and folic acid.

Barriers to regular consumption of fruits and vegetables include cost, lack of access to fresh produce and perceived lack of preparation time and cooking knowledge. Affordability and geographic scarcity can create conditions of limited access, particularly in low-income areas, where there are fewer supermarkets and smaller stores charge more for groceries and have less healthy food available. In 2023, households in the lowest income quartile spent an average of 32.6% of their income after taxes on food, while those in the highest-income quartile spent an average of 8.1%.

The estimated annual expenditures of unhealthy diets resulting in medical expenses and lower productivity are $1.1 trillion nationally.

According to America’s Health Rankings analysis, the prevalence of fruit and vegetable consumption is higher among: 

• Women ages 35-44 compared with those ages 18-24.
• Women with annual household incomes of $75,000 or more compared with women who have incomes of $50,000-$74,999.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers strategies for states and communities to improve access to fruits and vegetables, including:

• Adopting policies to ensure access to fruits and vegetables in workplace cafeterias. 
• Encouraging farm-to-institution programs in schools, hospitals, workplaces and child care centers. 
• Expanding new and existing farmers markets for direct access to seasonal fruits and vegetables.
• Improving access to and availability of fruits and vegetables at local grocery stores. States with a higher density of healthy food retailers, farmers markets and particularly farmers markets that accept nutrition-assistance program benefits report higher consumption of fruits and vegetables. 

Funding is available from the USDA for projects that establish healthy retail outlets or otherwise improve food access in underserved areas. The USDA maintains a Food Access Research Atlas: an interactive tool to identify low-income and low-access areas at the census tract level and individual-level resources for improving one's diet. Additionally, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) can provide nutrition education and a monthly dollar amount to increase fruit and vegetable consumption for eligible households.

Additionally, states, localities and organizations can continue to modify and expand current programs to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables, or they can introduce new fruit and vegetable voucher incentives and produce prescription programs.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force also suggests implementing community-based digital health interventions such as coaching and counseling, social support, educational tools and goal-setting to promote increased fruit and vegetable consumption.

Healthy People 2030 has multiple objectives for nutrition and healthy eating, including increasing fruit consumption among people age two and older and increasing vegetable consumption among people age two and older.

Bazzano, Lydia A., Jiang He, Lorraine G. Ogden, Catherine M. Loria, Suma Vupputuri, Leann Myers, and Paul K. Whelton. “Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in US Adults: The First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 76, no. 1 (July 1, 2002): 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/76.1.93.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2018 State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/downloads/fruits-vegetables/2018/2018-fruit-vegetable-report-508.pdf.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Strategies to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases: The CDC Guide to Strategies to Increase the Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/21639.

Singleton, Chelsea R., Sydney Fouché, Rucha Deshpande, Angela Odoms-Young, Corey Chatman, and Connie Spreen. “Barriers to Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Farmers’ Market Incentive Programme Users in Illinois, USA.” Public Health Nutrition 21, no. 7 (February 19, 2018): 1345–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018000101.

The Rockefeller Foundation. True Cost of Food: Measuring What Matters to Transform the U.S. Food System. The Rockefeller Foundation, July 2021. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/True-Cost-of-Food-Full-Report-Final.pdf.

U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, December 2020. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2020-12/Dietary_Guidelines_for_Americans_2020-2025.pdf.

Yeh, Ming-Chin, Scott B. Ickes, Lisa M. Lowenstein, Kerem Shuval, Alice S. Ammerman, Rosanne Farris, and David L. Katz. “Understanding Barriers and Facilitators of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among a Diverse Multi-Ethnic Population in the USA.” Health Promotion International 23, no. 1 (March 1, 2008): 42–51. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dam044.

Zhu, Allison Y. “Impact of Neighborhood Sociodemographic Characteristics on Food Store Accessibility in the United States Based on the 2020 US Census Data.” Delaware Journal of Public Health 8, no. 3 (August 2022): 94–101.https://doi.org/10.32481/djph.2022.08.016.