Fruits, vegetables too expensive for some

We all know that we should be eating more fruits and vegetables. But for many poor families, the price of these healthy foods may put them out of reach.

While most Americans know they should fit more fruits and vegetables in their daily diets, a new study suggests that the cost of fresh produce makes healthy eating simply too expensive for poorer families.

Researchers at the University of California Davis examined fruit and vegetable prices in Sacramento and Los Angeles. They wanted to see how much it would actually cost low-income families to eat the nine servings per day recommended by dietary guidelines issued in 2005.

What they found was that poor families would have to devote 43 to 70 percent of their food budget to fruits and vegetables to meet the mark.

This is far beyond the 15 to 18 per cent allocation that American families normally reserve for fruits and vegetables.

Most expensive are the dark-green and orange vegetables — the ones that the dietary guidelines explicitly recommend in order to protect against a host of chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Authors of the study say more measures are needed to make fruits and vegetables more affordable to low-income families.