Diet and healthy weight: monitoring report 2020

Child fruit and vegetable consumption

Scottish Health Survey

Latest results

• In 2019, 14% of children aged 2-15 met the five-a-day recommendation for consumption of fruit and vegetables. This figure shows little variation over time, lying between 12% and 15% each year since 2008. 
• In 2019, girls were significantly more likely to meet the five-a-day recommendation for consumption of fruit and vegetables (16% of girls compared with 12% of boys). 
• The proportion of children consuming no fruit and vegetables has remained fairly constant since 2008. In 2019, 9% of children aged 2-15 (same for girls and boys) consumed no fruit or vegetables on a typical day.
• In 2019, children consumed an average of 2.8 portions of fruit and vegetables a day (3.0 for girls and 2.6 for boys), a figure which has varied very little since 2008. 
• Girls aged 13-15 tended to eat less fruit and vegetables than younger girls (an average of 2.6 portions, compared with means of between 2.7 and 3.4 for the other age groups). For boys, lowest levels of consumption were in the 5-10 age group (2.5 portions a day) and highest for those aged 2-4 (3.1 portions a day).

• In 2019, fruit and vegetable consumption (5-a-day) was higher in Scotland's least deprived areas (5^th quintile) compared to the most deprived (1^st quintile), but this difference was not significant. Seventeen per cent of children living in the least deprived areas met the recommendation compared to 16% of children living in the most deprived, the lowest gap recorded since 2012. Fifteen, twelve and eleven per cent of children met the recommendation in the 4^th, 3^rd and 2^nd quintiles respectively, lower than the proportion in the most deprived quintile.

Definitions

A portion is defined as the conventional 80g of a fruit or vegetable. 

Geography available

Scotland level.

Equalities data

Breakdowns by age, sex, deprivation (SIMD), equivalised income and disability (limiting long-term illness) are available in the SHeS 2019 supplementary tables.

Rationale for including children fruit and vegetable consumption 

These data are useful to monitor changes in the proportion of Scotland's children population who meet the 5-a-day recommendation for consumption of fruit and vegetables. Different patterns amongst girls and boys of different ages can be identified. 

Factors influencing children fruit and vegetable consumption

Availability, cost, and access to fruit and vegetables.