Increasing Teens’ Fruit Consumption

One of the great opportunities for fruit growers is increasing kids’ consumption of fruit. Not only will that boost the amount of fruit sold today, but once they learn how sweet and delicious fruit can be, they will in all likelihood become consumers for life.

It’s a compound pyramid of growth in consumption — and, of course, in sales of your crops — because in the future they will raise their own kids on a diet that includes plenty of fruit. It’s a beautiful thing, because as regular readers also know, childhood obesity rates are spiraling out of control. Dietitians and doctors alike bemoan the fact that the current generation of kids is the first in our nation’s history not expected to outlive their parents.

But it’s even worse than I thought. According to a recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. teens are eating far, far less than the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables.

Based on data from the National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study, the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (a jolting title) finds that in 2010 the median consumption of fruit and vegetables among high school students was 1.2 times per day, which isn’t even close to the recommended amount from the Department of Health and Human Services.

And get this — if this doesn’t explain the fact about the kids not living longer than the parents, nothing will — about one in four teens eats fruit less often than once a day. Not even once a day? Vegetable consumption is even lower. Despite the fact that school lunches all contain a vegetable, just one in three eats vegetables less often than once a day.

This means far too many U.S. teens are not meeting their current daily fruit and vegetable recommendations, which for adolescents who do less than 30 minutes of exercise a day are 1.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables for girls and 2 cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables for boys. For teens who do more than 30 minutes of exercise a day, the recommended levels are even higher. One cup is equal to about one medium apple or eight strawberries.

 

Kids Need Help

The CDC urges schools and communities to adopt policies and environmental approaches that make fruit and vegetables more easily accessible and available to teens and schoolchildren. Research suggests these have greater reach and are longer lasting than diet counseling and education that target individuals.

Examples include farm-to-school initiatives, school gardens, salad bars in schools, and farmers markets. Implementing such approaches through schools can increase adolescents’ exposure to and familiarity with fruits and vegetables, says the CDC, referring to evidence that such factors influence the development of young people’s food preferences, which along with providing greater access, are important drivers of food consumption.

There are actions you can take to help with this situation, today. Did you know that you can adopt a school? It doesn’t cost a lot of money, and you might have a huge impact on some kids’ lives. Heck, you might even help them live longer. Here is the link to the Fruit & Vegetable Happenings in Your Local Community, the searchable database: www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=12588.

You can enter the city nearest you, or your zip code, and find a school with a given distance — whatever you choose — near your farm. Not only might you help some kids out, but you’ll help increase overall consumption, and that’s truly a win/win.