Nutrition, Obesity: Vegetable and Fruit Consumption

Nutrition
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Nutrition
In their study, Cohen et al. (2010) contrasted vegetable/fruit consumption, physical activity, and discretionary calorie consumption from selected foods compared with the dietary guidelines of 2005. As per the findings of their study, the population-weighted mean everyday intake of calories from alcohol, soda, salty snacks, cookies and candy was 617 in Southern Louisiana and 438 in Los Angeles County. Consumption of alcohol was just a tiny fraction of the calories consumed. The authors also found that discretionary calorie intake from a number of items surpassed the 2005 guidelines by over 120 percent in Southern Louisiana and sixty percent in Los Angeles County. In contrast, the mean consumption of vegetables and fruits dropped by 20 percent in Southern Louisiana and 10 percent in Los Angeles County (Cohen et al., 2010). In addition, there was substantial heterogeneity in the consumption of soda, salty snacks, candy, and cookies across race, gender and income.
I agree with the findings. People who have lower education level and income, men, and inhabitants of Southern Louisiana consumed considerably more calories from alcohol, soda, salty snacks, cookies and candies. Blacks had the highest consumption of calories from the aforementioned sources; that is, 692 African Americans versus 483 for Hispanics versus 496 for whites. There were no major differences in the consumption of vegetables and fruits by race gender or income. I support the findings since these findings are consistent with those reported by other researchers. Larson, Story and Nelson (2014) reported that low-income people such as those African Americans in Southern Louisiana face unique barriers in accessing healthy foods. They also lack sufficient safe environments for recreation and physical activity, they lack nutrition education, and food marketing is usually targeted at them (Grier & Kumanyika, 2011). On the other hand, people who have higher economic and social status such as those living in Los Angeles County have a higher likelihood of consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, fish, lean meats, and whole grains (Larson, Story & Nelson, 2014). Lower social-economic status is l...