The Produce for Better Health Foundation has released its latest research report: “Hacks To Habits: A Behavioral Research Study To Bolster Fruit & Vegetable Consumption.”
The new report reinforces the organization’s mission to improve fruit and vegetable consumption in America for better health and happiness, according to a news release.
“Now, more than ever, it is imperative to raise national awareness for fruits and vegetables, and acknowledge the important role they play in America’s health and happiness,” Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, president and CEO of PBH, said in the release. “Identifying successful ways to inspire simple and sustainable habits at all points of consumers’ food journey will be essential to successfully reversing the fruit and vegetable consumption decline.”
Key findings of the research include:
- Habit-creating opportunities for fruits and vegetables are very different;
- Fruit and vegetable habits are context-specific, automatic behaviors;
- High-frequency and medium-frequency eaters have more fruit and vegetable habits; and
- Low-frequency fruit and vegetable consumers can build habits from hacks.
The new PBH” Hacks To Habits” research report focuses the attitudes and behaviors of those consuming varying levels of fruits and vegetables, according to the release. The research examines strategies, such as simple hacks, which could effectively make it easier for consumers to adopt and sustain fruit and vegetable consumption habits, the release said.
The new PBH research report is being released to further celebrate September as National Fruits & Veggies Month.
“We were thrilled to have the new PBH Hacks To Habits research insights to inform our National Fruits & Veggies Month content strategy and create consumer-facing activations inclusive of creative hacks to prompt lifelong habits,” Katie Calligaro, marketing and communications director of PBH said in the release. “If we want consumers to change their behavior, we must consider both barriers and positive cues as well as immediate rewards, such as taste and flavor, when we communicate with them. Only then can break through – make it easy – and inspire greater fruit and vegetable consumption.”
The report also informs the upcoming White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health on Sept. 28, according to the release.
The White House Conference is designed to be a starting point to address the Administration’s goal of ending hunger and reducing the risk of diet-related disease by 2030, the release said. According to the PBH-Nutrition On Demand Fruit & Vegetable Gap Analysis: Bridging The Disparity Between Federal Spending & America’s Consumption Crisis, released earlier this year, inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption cost the US at least $98.2 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow to $137.0 billion by 2030.
