A few reasons why some Canadian teens might not be getting enough fruits and vegetables

October 16 is World Food Day, a time to put the spotlight on issues surrounding food, including nutrition and affordability.

Good nutrition includes getting enough fruits and vegetables into our diets—this is important for all ages, including younger Canadians who are still growing. And as our data show, there’s room for improvement.

Statistics Canada recently released the comprehensive Health of Canadians report, which includes data from the Canadian Community Health Survey on nutrition.

The proportion of Canadians aged 12 and older who consumed fruits and vegetables five or more times per day—including pure fruit juice, and frozen or canned fruits and vegetables—declined about 10 percentage points (from 31.5% to 21.8%) from 2015 to 2021. For those aged 12-17, the decline was roughly the same. Numbers-wise, that’s a decrease from 605,700 to 490,700 Canadians.

So, what might be behind those numbers?

Food insecurity

Food insecurity refers to insecure or inadequate access to food because of financial constraints. It can especially affect families, with more mouths to feed and the cost to do so ever-increasing. In 2021, nearly one in five Canadians (18.4%) reported some degree of food insecurity—marginal, moderate, or severe—up from 15.7% in 2020.

In 2021, that proportion ticked up to over 1 in 5 persons (21.1%) in couple families with children, from 16.4% in 2020—and close to 4 in 10 persons (38.8%) in lone-parent families, up from 33.7% in 2020.

Increasing cost of food

The cost of food has long been a challenge for many families, and a key contributor to food insecurity even before prices for food purchased from stores increased to a 41-year high in 2022.

Prices for fresh fruit and vegetables increased 16.2% on an annual average basis from 2015 to 2021, a slightly faster pace than the broader category of food and energy, which saw a 13.5% increase, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Complementing the CPI is a monthly data series tracking the prices of commonly purchased items from grocery stores. In January 2017, the beginning of the current series, the average nationwide price for a kilogram of apples was $3.75. In January 2021, it was $4.76.

Over the same period, a kilogram of tomatoes went from $4.48 to $6.44, a 454-gram package of strawberries increased from $3.26 to $4.27, a head of romaine lettuce saw a bump from $2.09 to $3.22, while a head of broccoli went from $2.02 to $2.77.

What’s next

For the next round of the Canadian Community Health Survey, we’ll be asking Canadians about their food and beverage consumption, including fruits and vegetables. If you are chosen to participate, please do so—for more information on survey participation, click here.