Diet and healthy weight: monitoring report 2019

Adult fruit and vegetable consumption

Scottish Health Survey

Latest results

• In 2018, 22% of adults aged 16 and over met the five-a-day recommendation for consumption of fruit and vegetables. This figure has remained fairly constant since 2003, with only a small amount of variation over the years (between 20% and 24%).
• Women were significantly more likely to consume the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables than men in 2018 (24% and 19% respectively), a difference that has been evident in most years since 2003.
• In 2018, 10% of adults consumed no fruit and vegetables on a typical day, a figure which has not changed much since 2003.
• In 2018, adults consumed an average of 3.2 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, a figure which has varied very little since 2003. Mean fruit and vegetable consumption was higher for women than men (3.5 compared to 2.9 portions a day respectively).
• Women aged 75 and over tended to eat less fruit and vegetables than younger women (a mean of 3.0 portions, compared with means of between 3.4 and 3.7 for the other age groups). For men, lowest levels of consumption were in the youngest age group (2.5 portions a day for men aged 16 to 24) and highest for those aged 55 and over (an average of between 3.1 and 3.2 portions a day).

Figure 7. Adult fruit and vegetable consumption by sex, 2003 to 2018

• Fruit and vegetable consumption (5-a-day) has been higher in Scotland's least deprived areas compared to the most deprived in recent years. In 2018, the gap was the same for men (27% in the least deprived compared with 12% in the most deprived areas) and women (33% and 18% respectively).

Figure 8. Adult fruit and vegetable consumption by area deprivation and sex, 2012-2018

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

Geography available
Scotland level, Health Board, Local Authority (where sample sizes are sufficient).

Equalities data
Breakdowns by most equalities groups are possible. Breakdowns by age, sex, socio-economic status (SIMD) and disability (limiting long-term illness) are available in the SHeS 2018 supplementary tables.

Rationale for including adult fruit and vegetable consumption

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

Factors influencing adult fruit and vegetable consumption

Availability, cost, and access to fruit and vegetables.