Survey reveals US citizens refrain from fruits and vegetables

A large national survey was conducted in the US and it was found that majority of the adults still aren’t eating their fruits and vegetables in sufficient quantity. The survey revealed that only 13 per cent of the people ate the recommended amount of fruits every day. The figure for the people who ate enough vegetables everyday was even low as only 9 per cent of them admitted that they ate enough veggies. These numbers were achieved in the national average, as some figures are even worse in some states. The percentage of people who ate the recommended amount of fruits everyday was as low as 7.5 per cent in Tennessee. The health problems of the US are not a new thing as a big percentage of the population is already obese and many are overweight. According to a recent study, every 2 out of 3 women in the US are obese and 3 out of 4 men were found to be obese.

People Eating Fruits

The Obama administration has advised the people in the past to eat healthy foods and stay clear of the fast foods that are currently being consumed at an alarming rate. The normal intake of fruits and vegetables was advised to be 1 and a half to 2 cups and 2 to 3 cups respectively. As a result, the government came under a lot of scrutiny for suggesting people what to eat and what not to eat. Lead writer of the National Center for Chronic disease and prevention and health Promotion, Latetia V. Moore said,” Fruit and vegetables intake has been persistently low for years, however, we only recently developed an approach to look at how every state is doing.” Further in an e-mail to the Reuters Health, she said that it is shocking how low intake is in some southern states however how disappointingly low it is throughout the US.

The government is doing its bit to ensure that the people stay healthy and is constantly promoting the advantages of eating fruits and vegetables, especially the green leafy ones but it’s totally up to the people what they want to put in their bodies. These results were achieved through a national telephone survey of 2013 and included hundreds and thousands of Americans. However, the officials said that all the findings might not be consistent with last year’s intake but the ones related to the intake of fruits and vegetables seem to be holding steady. This could be a wakeup call for a nation that is knee deep in obesity and all sorts of diseases that are caused because of obesity.