Fruits and Vegetables are Elitist
We found that low-income households spent significantly less on fruits and vegetables than higher income households. In any given week, approximately 19 percent of all low-income households bought no fruits and vegetables, compared with only about 10 percent of higher income households with no expenditures.How much you want to bet that the Obamas are a bunch of carrot and apple chompers?
We found that small changes in income had no effect on fruit and vegetable expenditures by low-income households. For higher income households, however, small changes in income did translate to increased expenditures for fruits and vegetables; the increased expenditures, while small, were statistically significant.
Interestingly, the largest positive influence on fruit and vegetable expenditures was a college-educated head of household, regardless of income level. In fact, college-educated households had the highest level of per capita expenditures for fruits and vegetables.
I wonder if this trend is just in the US or if it holds for all countries? I also wonder how much of this has to do with the subsidies given to grain farmers in the US, which makes fruits and vegetables more expensive relatively.
via USDA
2 comments:
What about the caloric efficiency of grain products compared to fruits and vegetables? In other words, doesn't a poorer person get more calories for less money by buying grain products rather than f&v?
Anon,
I am pretty sure that you are correct that grain gives you more calories per $ than f&v.
But, f&v are important for fiber and micro-nutrients and people that eat them are likely to be healthier.
The poor are also more likely than the rich to be overweight, a sign that in America that getting too few calories is not a problem for the poor.
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