Corrected version
More than three-fourths of Mississippians didn’t eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables in 2009, and the rates were lower than they were in 2000.
According to the Centers for Disease Control’s weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report released last week, only about 22.9 percent of Mississippians ate fruit two or more times per day in 2009. Only about 21.6 percent ate vegetables three or more times per day.
The fruit consumption rate is the nation’s second-lowest, ahead of only Oklahoma’s 18.1 percent.
In 2000, 24.1 percent of people in Mississippi met the guidelines for fruit consumption — the nation’s third-lowest rate, with only Arkansas (23.5 percent) and Oklahoma (23.3 percent) trailing.
The 2009 vegetable consumption rate is the third-lowest, ahead of only Louisiana (21.3 percent) and South Dakota (19.6 percent). In 2000, the state was 35th in this category with a rate of 25.1 percent.
Often a simple lack of available fruits and vegetables is the reason a community doesn’t eat well, said Dr. Alfio Rausa, health officer for District III of the state Department of Health.
“Fruits and vegetables are expensive, and in a lot of communities opportunities to get them just don’t exist,” Rausa said.
A USDA study found nearly 1,200 low-income households in Leflore County were more than a mile from a grocery store. An adult obesity rate of 38.6 percent closely follows the the 38.8 percent poverty rate in the county.
Hardie Frankel, district nutrition supervisor at the Department of Health, said a lack of full grocery stores, coupled with their higher price and often shorter shelf life, makes fruits and vegetables a less appealing option for families on a tight budget.
“Some of these mom-and-pop stores just don’t have the option to carry fruits and vegetables,” she said.
Frankel said a diet low in fruits and vegetables often creates one that is high in refined sugars, which can lead to obesity. Cancer and other chronic illnesses are also linked to inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption.
Frankel said the WIC program has recently added fresh and canned fruits and vegetables to its program. “The population that we serve is economically strapped, and they have to make a decision to provide for their families,” she said.
Frankel said marketing that increases awareness of the importance of fruits and vegetables may alleviate some of the problem. More also should be done to increase access and options for consumers, she said.
Hugh Warren, manager of the Downtown Greenwood Farmers Market, said traffic there is not as brisk as he would like to see it Saturday mornings.
“We certainly would like to see more people taking advantage of an opportunity to get fresh local produce,” he said.
Warren said he is not surprised fruits and vegetable consumption has declined.
“One word pops in my mind: Convenience,” he said. “A lot of people think it’s just easier to go through a drive-through than it is to go home and work a microwave or a stove.”
He said right now, tomatoes and sweet corn are among the most popular items at the market. But availability of fruit and vegetables from the Farmer’s Market will continue only as long as gardens are still producing.
He said the market will continue to stay open as the decision is made from week to week as to whether vendors can support a market the next week.
The decline in fruit and vegetable consumption over the past decade is also a national trend. Adequate fruit consumption fell 2.1 percentage points, and adequate vegetable consumption fell 0.4 percentage points.
In 2009, an estimated 32.5 percent of U.S. adults consumed fruit two or more times per day. The percentage of adults who consumed vegetables three or more times per day was 26.3 percent.
“These findings underscore the need for interventions at national, state, and community levels, across multiple settings to improve fruit and vegetable access, availability, and affordability, as a means of increasing individual consumption,” the report concludes.
Women, people 65 years of age or older, college graduates, people with household incomes over $50,000 and people with a lower body mass index were all more likely to consume two fruits and three vegetables per day.
• Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
CDC report
