Total Vegetable and White Potato Consumption of Women of Childbearing Age

Abstract

A nutritious diet and healthy lifestyle are crucial before, during and after pregnancy to optimize health for both mother and child. For most women of childbearing age (WCBA), the 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommend about 2.5 cups of vegetables each day. We examined total vegetable and white potato (WP) consumption of WCBA 19 to 50 years using dietary data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009‐2010. Appropriate survey weights were used to calculate average daily consumption of total vegetables and WP using day 1 dietary intake data. On average, WCBA consumed 1.36 cup equivalents of total vegetables. Non‐Hispanic white women, Hispanic women, and women of other races consumed an average of 1.39, 1.43, and 1.46 cup equivalents of vegetables, respectively. On average, non‐Hispanic blacks consumed 1.11 cup equivalents of vegetables—significantly fewer than women of all other races. WCBA consumed about 0.31 cup equivalents of WP. Non‐Hispanic white women, non‐Hispanic black women, Hispanic women and women of other races consumed 0.24, 0.26, 0.25, and 0.20 cups of WP, respectively. These results suggest that vegetable consumption is very low among WCBA and that the affordable WP is an important vegetable, particularly among subgroups of the population with the lowest vegetable intake.