| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Why veggie prices matter: Availability, affordability, and consumption of fruits and vegetables in 18 countries across income levels: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study – The Lancet Global Health
Expensive food hits the poor hard, as this new Lancet study shows. Changes in farming approaches might help reduce costs of a well balanced diet in low income countries and the pay-off can be huge in human-welfare terms
Findings (Lancet study, link below to open access article)
Of 143 305 participants who reported plausible energy intake in the food frequency questionnaire, mean fruit and vegetable intake was 3·76 servings (95% CI 3·66–3·86) per day. Mean daily consumption was 2·14 servings (1·93–2·36) in low-income countries (LICs), 3·17 servings (2·99–3·35) in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), 4·31 servings (4·09–4·53) in upper-middle-income countries (UMICs), and 5·42 servings (5·13–5·71) in high-income countries (HICs). In 130 402 participants who had household income data available, the cost of two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables per day per individual accounted for 51·97% (95% CI 46·06–57·88) of household income in LICs, 18·10% (14·53–21·68) in LMICs, 15·87% (11·51–20·23) in UMICs, and 1·85% (−3·90 to 7·59) in HICs (ptrend=0·0001). In all regions, a higher percentage of income to meet the guidelines was required in rural areas than in urban areas (p<0·0001 for each pairwise comparison). Fruit and vegetable consumption among individuals decreased as the relative cost increased (ptrend=0·00040).
Interpretation
The consumption of fruit and vegetables is low worldwide, particularly in LICs, and this is associated with low affordability. Policies worldwide should enhance the availability and affordability of fruits and vegetables…
Source: http://gmopundit.blogspot.com/2016/09/why-veggie-prices-matter-availability.html
