Fresh fruit and vegetable purchases in an urban supermarket by low-income households.

Objective: To investigate the predictors of fresh fruit and vegetable purchases in a low-income population and identify subgroups in which interventions to increase such purchases might prove useful.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 209 shopping transactions from 30 households. Individual and household characteristics obtained from primary shopper. Data collected covered April 1-June 30, 2010. Primary outcome was number of servings of fresh produce purchased per week. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted.

Results: Controlling for household size, the average number of servings of fresh produce per week was higher in families with more children (P = .008) and in families with a wider age range of children (P = .04).

Conclusions And Implications: Households with more children purchased more fresh produce. Purchase data combined with shopper household characteristics helped to distinguish relatively high from low purchasers of fresh produce among low-income families.