Access to fruits and vegetables is not sufficient to ensure consumption

Background: Overweight and obesity are serious public health problems that predispose individuals to high cost medical conditions. Obesity disproportionately affects people of lower socio-economic status. Method: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey was administered in Jefferson County in fall 2010, oversampling in twelve lower income neighborhoods.

Results: Of the 1,501 participants, 76% were Caucasians and 67% were overweight or obese with a median age of 45 years. Half were female, 14% had less than high school education, and 60% reported household incomes of less than $50,000. After adjusting for demographic factors and perceived neighborhood safety, access to healthy food (defined as being easy to purchase healthy food in one's neighborhood and less than 1 mile away) was not associated with consuming fruits and vegetables three or more times per day (OR=1.05, 95% CI: 0.60 - 1.84). However, participants with a high school education compared to college graduates (OR=0.39, 95% CI: 0.23 - 0.67) and obese individuals (OR=0.37, 95% CI: 0.22 - 0.64) were less likely to consume fruits and vegetables three or more times per day.

Conclusion: More innovative strategies for populations with low educational levels must be developed and evaluated. It is critical to increase consumption of healthy foods and to reduce rates of obesity and morbidity associated with chronic diseases.