Abstract

Author(s): Crovetto, Mirta1; Uauy, Ricardo2

Introduction. Income improvements among Chilean population have resulted in a change in food availability in the households.

Objective. To describe changes in the availability of fruits and vegetables (according to the intake recommended by the WHO and the dietary guidelines for the Chilean population). The study considers households’ expenditure in the Metropolitan Region; these households are classified according to income quintiles.

Materials and Methods. The information used was collected from the Fourth (1986-1987), Fifth (1996-1997), Sixth (2006-2007) and Seventh (2011-2012) Household Budget and Expenditure Surveys from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), considering all the households belonging to the lowest income quintile (QII) and the highest income quintile (QV). Availability was established based on households’ expenditure on fruits and vegetables and using the prices recorded by the INE.

Results. Availability of fruits and vegetables for the period from 1987 to 2012 changes from 218g to 325g per capita per day for all the households; from 148g to 303g per capita per day in the lowest income strata and from 333g to 420g per capita per day in the highest income strata. Only the highest income quintile meets the international recommended intake of 400g per capita per day of fruit and vegetable and the five servings per capita per day stated in the Dietary Guidelines for Chile.