| Summary: | Poor diets are a primary cause of malnutrition and the leading cause of disease worldwide. Improving diets, including increasing fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake, could save one in five lives annually. Micronutrients are essential for health; those obtained from F&Vs have a lower environmental footprint than those obtained from other foods making F&Vs essential to sustainable healthy diets. Globally, F&V intake is below recommended levels. However, the extent and nature of the problem is poorly understood due to insufficient data on dietary intake and food environments, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
More than 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. Often, F&V are among the least affordable foods. Even when F&V are accessible and affordable, intake is too low6 highlighting the role of desirability in F&V intake. Solutions for improving diet quality, in part by increasing F&V intake, will need to be multifaceted and interconnected. Solutions should start with understanding dietary patterns, and addressing barriers across desirability, accessibility, affordability, and availability using an end-to-end approach.
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