Diet and nutrition: adults
According to SHeS data, in 2019, 22% of Scottish adults (21% of men and 23% of women) ate the recommended 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day. This was similar to the previous year but represents a decrease compared to 2017 (24% in total, 22% of men and 26% of women). See Chart 1.
Chart 2 shows the prevalence of consuming five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day in Scotland by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile in 2019. SIMD is the Scottish Government's official measure of area based multiple deprivation. In the least deprived quintile, 26% of adults were meeting daily fruit and vegetable consumption guidelines compared with only 19% in the most deprived quintile.
Comparing 2017 data from the Scottish Health Survey and Health Survey for England shows that, in each age group, a lower percentage of respondents consumed five or more portions per day in Scotland than in England in 2017 (see Chart 3). The exception was for adults age 16-24, which was the same for both Scotland and England at 23%. The biggest differences are seen in the 35-44, 55-64, 65-74 and 75+ age groups (consumption of five or more portions per day was at least 7% higher in England than Scotland across all of these age groups).
Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.
