Adults are twice as likely to start the day with coffee than fruit or vegetable juice. At breakfast, only 10 percent of their food is fruits, vegetables or 100 percent juice. At lunchtime, the figure was 17 percent and at dinner, the time when most vegetables are eaten, only 28 percent of the meal was fruits, vegetables or 100 percent juice. Snackers are four times more likely to pick up a processed snack rather than a fruit or vegetable. The bleak picture painted by these statistics compiled for the National Cancer Institute's 5 A Day for Better Health program by MRCA Services, is further darkened by the findings for children.
Children are twice as likely to eat french fries than any individual vegetable.
Over 50 percent of their snacks are cookies, desserts, potato chips, other salty treats, candy and gum. They are five times more likely to have a carbonated soft drink or fruit drink than 100 percent fruit juice for a snack. Steakhouse traffic has soared, increasing 73 percent since 1993. In 1980, the figure was 196.4 pounds per capita. Americans also are taking their licks of premium and super premium ice creams, the only two categories showing significant growth in volume in 1998.