Indicator 6: Eating ≥ 5 Fruits and Vegetables Daily

• Diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk for some cancers and chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Fruits and vegetables provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health.
• Compared with other age groups, a greater proportion of adults aged 65 or older eat five or more fruits and vegetables daily. However, only about 30% of the overall population in this age group meets the five-a-day recommendation.
• BRFSS data from 2003 show that the percentage of older Americans who eat five or more fruits and vegetables varies by race and ethnicity. About 40% of Asian/Pacific Islander older adults meet the five-a-day recommendation, compared with only 31% of non-Hispanic whites; 26% of Hispanics; 25% of non-Hispanic blacks; and 24% of Native Americans.
• Call to action:
  • Promoting healthy behaviors among older adults

Location Data C.I.* Rank† Grade‡ United States 29.8 n/a n/a n/a Alabama 28.9 (25.4 - 32.6) 34 Alaska 23.7 (17.6 - 31.2) 44 Arizona 27.7 (23.8 - 31.9) 38 Arkansas 29.3 (26.2 - 32.6) 32 California 36.2 (32.4 - 40.2) 6 Colorado 30.7 (27.0 - 34.7) 21 Connecticut 38.5 (35.2 - 41.8) 2 Delaware 25.0 (21.4 - 29.1) 43 District of Columbia 37.6 (31.7 - 43.9) 4 Florida 28.8 (25.1 - 32.8) 35 Georgia 23.7 (20.8 - 26.9) 44 Hawaii§ 37.9 (33.9 - 42.0) 3 Idaho 26.8 (23.8 - 30.1) 39 Illinois 28.4 (24.2 - 33.0) 36 Indiana 30.1 (27.3 - 33.2) 25 Iowa 23.7 (21.1 - 26.5) 44 Kansas 26.1 (23.2 - 29.2) 42 Kentucky 23.0 (20.1 - 26.0) 48 Louisiana 22.0 (19.3 - 24.9) 49 Maine 29.7 (25.2 - 34.2) 27 Maryland 33.7 (29.8 - 37.8) 11 Massachusetts 35.7 (32.6 - 38.9) 7 Michigan 30.2 (26.9 - 33.7) 22 Minnesota 33.5 (30.1 - 37.0) 12 Mississippi 19.5 (16.9 - 22.4) 51 Missouri 29.4 (25.8 - 33.4) 30 Montana 30.2 (26.4 - 34.3) 22 Nebraska 26.2 (23.6 - 28.9) 41 Nevada 26.8 (21.8 - 32.4) 39 New Hampshire 36.3 (32.9 - 39.8) 5 New Jersey 32.4 (30.3 - 34.6) 15 New Mexico 31.3 (28.4 - 34.3) 18 New York 33.8 (30.7 - 37.1) 10 North Carolina 27.9 (25.3 - 30.7) 37 North Dakota 32.6 (29.0 - 36.4) 14 Ohio 31.0 (26.9 - 35.4) 20 Oklahoma 21.2 (19.3 - 23.3) 50 Oregon 34.0 (30.7 - 37.5) 9 Pennsylvania 29.4 (26.1 - 32.9) 30 Rhode Island 35.6 (31.8 - 39.5) 8 South Carolina 29.7 (26.8 - 32.8) 27 South Dakota 31.6 (28.9 - 34.4) 16 Tennessee 29.8 (25.6 - 34.4) 26 Texas 30.2 (27.2 - 33.2) 22 Utah 29.1 (24.9 - 33.8) 33 Vermont 40.2 (36.7 - 43.7) 1 Virginia 33.5 (29.6 - 37.4) 12 Washington 29.7 (27.9 - 31.5) 27 West Virginia 23.6 (20.6 - 26.9) 47 Wisconsin 31.3 (27.6 - 35.2) 18 Wyoming 31.4 (28.0 - 35.0) 17

Make comparisons Healthy People 2010 Targets

= Upper Third (top performing 33%)   = Middle Third (middle 33%)   = Lower Third (lowest performing 33%)         * A confidence interval (CI) describes the level of uncertainty of an estimate and specifies the range in which the true value is likely to fall. The State of Aging and Health in America online report uses a 95% level of significance, which means that 95% of the time, the true value falls within these boundaries.         † Rankings are based on the relative numeric scores for each indicator, with a ranking of "1" indicating the highest rank.         ‡ Grades are calculated as tertiles (thirds) and show state performance relative to all other states.         § 2003 data are used for Hawaii because no 2004 data exist.           Note: When comparing prevalence of variables across states or years, we recommend the use of confidence intervals. If the confidence intervals overlap, the difference is not statistically significant.