Access and consumption of fruit and vegetables for people living in a deprived neighborhood in New Zealand: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Access to healthy food is important to reduce risk of illness ^1,2. This paper describes fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and perception of access to FV by food bank users (40 households) in a New Zealand city. Data collected via interviews showed that cost was the greatest influence on FV consumption. Data on meeting the fruit (2 + a day) and vegetable (3 + a day) recommendations were: adults F: 57% and V: 62%; children F: 86% and V: 59%. Households wanted to consume more FV. Future interventions need to consider enabling people that live in high deprivation to purchase FV.

KEYWORDS:

• Poverty
• fruit and vegetables
• food security
• food bank
• developed countries

Acknowledgments

Without collaboration with Te Wakahuia Manawatū Trust this study would not have been possible. We are hugely grateful for their efforts.

This project was made possible through funding by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (grant number 17/659).

We would also like to acknowledge the feedback provided by Ass Prof Rozanne Kruger.

Conflict Of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Author Contributions

GK, AK and VP designed the study. VP was in charge of running the intervention and collecting data. AK, GK and VP were all involved with analysing and interpreting the data. All authors have viewed the submitted manuscript.

Declaration Of Conflict

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes

a. A food grant is a federal food assistance programme and is distributed by our federal social services – Work and Income. The grant is income dependent and the amount dispensed is individually determined and variable. https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/eligibility/urgent-costs/food.html#null.

b. There are three methods used to assess poverty in NZ. They are a median equivalised disposable household income before (and after) housing costs less than 40% (50% and 60%). In this study, we asked for total household income only and not for housing costs.

c. Extended family, family group, a familiar term of address to a number of people – the primary economic unit of traditional Māori society. In the modern context the term is sometimes used to include friends who may not have any kinship ties to other members.