The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is out with a new report saying that every state in the country falls short of official recommendations for daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, with only one-third of adults eating enough fruit and 27 percent eating enough vegetables.
The “State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009” notes that there is a national goal to have “75 percent of Americans to eat at least 2 servings of fruit, and for 50 percent of Americans to eat at least 3 servings of vegetables daily.”
The report also says that “the statistics are even worse for high school students - 32 percent of them report eating at least 2 fruit servings daily and 13 percent say they eat at least 3 vegetable servings each day. On average, only 9.5 percent of American adolescents consume at least 2 servings of fruit and at least 3 servings of vegetables each day.”
While they are below targets, the 10 best states when it comes to fruit and vegetable consumption by adults are, in order, District of Columbia, Vermont, Maine, Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Arizona and California.
The 10 worst states are Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, South Dakota, West Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Arkansas and Missouri.
The “State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009” notes that there is a national goal to have “75 percent of Americans to eat at least 2 servings of fruit, and for 50 percent of Americans to eat at least 3 servings of vegetables daily.”
The report also says that “the statistics are even worse for high school students - 32 percent of them report eating at least 2 fruit servings daily and 13 percent say they eat at least 3 vegetable servings each day. On average, only 9.5 percent of American adolescents consume at least 2 servings of fruit and at least 3 servings of vegetables each day.”
While they are below targets, the 10 best states when it comes to fruit and vegetable consumption by adults are, in order, District of Columbia, Vermont, Maine, Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Arizona and California.
The 10 worst states are Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, South Dakota, West Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Arkansas and Missouri.
- KC's View:
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You can't help but notice that all the states where eating habits are better are either New England, Middle Atlantic or western states…and nine out of ten of the ones with the worst kind of nutritional deficits in their diets are south of the Mason Dixon line.
Also interesting that seven of the 10 states with poor consumption of fruits and vegetables are so-called Red States, while eight of the 10 states with highest fruit and vegetable consumption are so-called Blue States.
I wonder what would happen if you graphed out the political opinions in each of these states when it comes to public policy about the treatment of obesity issues, especially childhood obesity. Would the states with the worst record in terms of fruit and vegetable consumption be the most negative about a legislative or regulatory approach to obesity? And, conversely, would the states with the best numbers be more in favor of public policies that promote better eating habits? And where would these states come out when it comes to changed approaches to the health care bureaucracy?
