Blog for all health-conscious: Fooducate Blog - Study: Convenience, Not Price, Limits Veggie Consumption

Monday 27 February 2012

Fooducate Blog - Study: Convenience, Not Price, Limits Veggie Consumption

Study: Convenience, Not Price, Limits Veggie Consumption

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 04:31 AM PST

String Beans in bulk at a supermarket

A research paper published in Public Health Nutrition posits that price is less of a factor in deciding to buy vegetables and fruits. Rather, it’s the convenient access to quality produce that increased purchases.

The research was conducted in low income neighborhoods in Chicago, where you would expect every dollar to count.

Participants who agreed that they had "convenient access to quality" produce were more than twice as likely to eat the FDA-recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, compared to those who said they did not have such access. read more from the Washington Post…

While this proves a correlation, it does not necessarily mean causation. The laws of economics have taught us that low prices are indeed a factor in food purchase decisions. Obviously not the only factor.

What we’ve heard and seen (qualitatively) is that many people don’t purchase vegetable because they don’t quite know what to do with them. Or can’t be bothered with the cleaning and trimming which takes time.

That’s why simple and quick recipes need to be made a part of kids’ curriculum in school and extra-curricular activities. If it’s too late for our generation, perhaps our kids can come from school one days and teach us how to prepare broccoli that doesn’t stink.

What’s holding you back from consuming more produce?

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