Fruit and vegetable
consumption by socio-economic position
Adults' responses were analysed by various socio-economic
characteristics, of which household income is shown in the accompanying
chart. This shows that the proportion eating five or more fruit
and vegetable portions a day increased steeply as equivalised
household income increased. (This is a measure of income that
takes account of the number of persons in the household by allocating
scores that take account of such things as their age and economic
dependency.)
The relationship between income and the proportion
eating five or more portions a day was approximately linear for
both sexes, but the gradient was steeper for women: that is to
say, the difference between opposite ends of the income scale
was greater for women than men. The proportion of women consuming
five or more portions a day was almost twice as great among those
in the highest income quintile as in the lowest. The proportion
of men consuming five or more portions a day in the highest income
quintile was almost half again as high as in the lowest quintile.
A further analysis carried out to remove the effects of any age
differences between income quintiles did not change the picture.
The mean number of portions per day (not shown in
chart) followed a similar pattern. In the lowest income quintile
the mean number (based on all informants) was 2.8 for men and
3.1 for women. In contrast, in the highest income quintile the
equivalent figures were 3.9 and 4.5.
A marked relationship was also seen between fruit
and vegetable consumption and area deprivation, measured on the
basis of a composite index derived from six socio-economic indicators
of deprivation.
Consumption decreased as area deprivation increased,
the trend again being stronger for women than men. The association
of fruit and vegetable consumption with area deprivation, though
strong, was not quite as strong as the association with income.
However, in regression models, once equivalised household income
had been controlled for, area deprivation effects were weak, proving
to be significant for women, but not for men. In contrast, the
regression model showed that equivalised income was significantly
associated with fruit and vegetable consumption among both men
and women.
Fruit and vegetable
consumption by cigarette smoking
The final chart on this topic shows that fruit and
vegetable consumption had a strong inverse relationship with cigarette
smoking. A much smaller proportion of current smokers than of
non-smokers (or ex-smokers) consumed five or more portions a day.
Among smokers, this proportion decreased as the number of cigarettes
smoked increased. There was no marked difference between ex-smokers
and those who had never smoked.
The proportion of heavy smokers (20 or more a day)
eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables was, for
men, only about a third as high as the proportion of non-smokers
eating five or more portions, the difference for women being not
very much less. Differences were also apparent among current smokers.
The proportion of heavy smokers (20 or more a day) consuming five
or more portions was only about half that found among moderate
smokers (10 to under 20 a day).
As both cigarette smoking and fruit and vegetable
consumption were related to age and socio-economic circumstances,
regression analysis to control for these effects was carried out.
This confirmed that fruit and vegetable consumption was significantly
lower among current cigarette smokers compared with non-smokers,
and declined steadily with an increase in the number of cigarettes
smoked per day.
An analysis of mean portions (chart not shown) offers
a similar picture.
