Abstract

Background

Eating plenty of vegetables and fruits on a daily basis is the foundation of a healthy diet. This study investigated patterns in Canadians’ vegetable and fruit consumption in 2015 and compared these with 2004 data.

Data and methods

The 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) – Nutrition and the 2004 CCHS – Nutrition (Cycle 2.2) provided nationally representative 24-hour dietary recall data on Canadians’ vegetable and fruit intakes. The frequency of consumption and the average quantity of daily intake for total vegetables, fruits and subgroups were calculated overall and by age and sex group for each survey year. The National Cancer Institute’s methodology was used to assess the distribution of usual total vegetable and fruit intake and how it relates to recommendations in the 2007 Canada’s Food Guide.

Results

Overall, Canadians reported consuming fewer total servings of vegetables and fruits in 2015 (4.5 average daily servings) than in 2004 (5.3 average daily servings). Lower total fruit intakes were explained by significantly lower intakes of fruit juice across nearly all age and sex groups, resulting in a decline of 0.3 average total daily fruit servings in the overall population. Lower vegetable consumption was largely driven by lower intakes of potatoes and, to a lesser extent, lettuce. Intakes of whole fruits and other vegetables remained largely unchanged. In both years, the majority of Canadians did not usually consume the number of total vegetable and fruit servings recommended for their age and sex group in the 2007 Canada’s Food Guide.

Interpretation

Canadians reported consuming fewer vegetables and fruits in 2015 compared with 2004. This was largely driven by substantially lower consumption of fruit juice and, to a lesser extent, potatoes. These findings can serve as valuable baseline data to assess any changes in patterns of vegetable and fruit consumption in Canada.

Keywords

Canadian Community Health Survey, nutrition, dietary intake, fruit, vegetables

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202000400001-eng

Findings

Eating a variety of vegetables and fruits on a daily basis is the foundation of a healthy diet and helps to protect against a number of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In the most recently issued national dietary guidelines, the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide (CFG), vegetables and fruits lead the list of nutritious foods that should be consumed regularly, along with whole grains and protein foods. The 2019 CFG also recommends eating “plenty of vegetables and fruits,” and advises Canadians to “try making half of your plate vegetables and fruits” and to “replace juice with water.” These recommendations are generally consistent with those outlined in the previous 2007 edition of the CFG, which also stressed the importance of consuming a variety of vegetables and fruits every day for optimal diet and health, and recommended consuming fruit more often than juice. Unlike the 2019 CFG, the 2007 CFG offered specific guidance about the types and amounts of vegetables and fruits to consume. This included guidance to “eat at least one dark green and one orange vegetable each day,” and age- and sex-specific numbers of recommended daily vegetable and fruit servings. [Full article]

Authors

Jane Y. Polsky (jane.polsky@canada.ca) and Didier Garriguet are with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

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