The Determinants of Fruit and Vegetables Intake in Arizona

Abstract

This paper studies the determinants of fruit and vegetables consumption in Arizona by evaluating the demographic and neighborhood factors; and it also investigates the impact of “food deserts” on fruit and vegetables intake in Arizona. Two databases are examined to identify these characteristics and to describe the distribution of fruit and vegetables intake in 15 counties in Arizona State. The databases are the demographic data from 2005 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System Data (BRFSS) and neighborhood data from 2005 U.S. Bureau of the Census Zip Code File. We implement an OLS regression model to ascertain the determinants of fruit and vegetables intake per day in Arizona. In addition, by estimating a logit model we predict the likelihood of consuming five or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day. The results indicate that factors such as age, gender, race and ethnicity, employee status, education and income level, attitude towards life, number of children in a family and "food deserts" have significant effects on the fruit and vegetables intake per day among Arizona individuals.