Pattern of Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Its Association with Long-term Diseases in Different Ethnic Groups of Canada

Abstract

This ethnicity-based research based on Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 2.2 demonstrates that majority people of all ethnic groups in Canada do not consume adequate times/servings of fruit and vegetables per day which might pose a potential risk factor for long-term diseases. The term 'ethnicity' is defined in this analysis with 'common cultural traits' instead of 'common gene pool'. Hence, Canadian diverse population has been decomposed into 14 explicit cultural/racial groups in CCHS 2.2. Significant differences in the consumption of 5 or more times/servings of fruit and vegetables per day exist among Canadian ethnic groups. Southeast Asian, Aboriginal people of North America, West Asian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese ethnic groups tend to exhibit the lowest intake of 5 or more times/servings of fruit and vegetables per day. As CCHS 2.2 is a complex survey, logistic regressions with bootstrap weights have been run to delineate the association between fruit & vegetables, race/ethnicity, and long-term diseases. Ethnic people with lower intake of total fruit and vegetables, fruit, and green salad have reported themselves to be more susceptible to long-term health conditions and chronic conditions. Low consumption of carrot and other vegetables are found to be responsible for bowel disorder and intestinal ulcers along with the long-term and chronic health conditions. Aboriginal people of North America has the highest propensity to contract most of the long-term diseases among all ethnic groups as opposed to the While ethnic group which may have an strong association with their lowest Fruit and vegetables intake.