Consumers in the UK spend more than three times as much on fruit and vegetables than unhealthy snack food, but healthy eating varies vastly from region to region, according to new analysis.
Research conducted by mySupermarket.co.uk revealed that UK households spend £480 a year on fruit and vegetables, as opposed to £150 annually on snack food.
However, London, Yorkshire and the south of England were found to be considerably healthier than some other regions, with the average Londoner spending £534 annually, while Yorkshire households spend the second least on snacking.
Scotland and the North East came out joint bottom in the research, spending £426 and £411 on fruit and vegetables respectively.
Jonny Steel, spokesperson for mySupermarket.co.uk, said: “[We] had hoped that the North/South divide was a term from the last century but, unfortunately, there are clear differences between people’s average spend on fruit and vegetables in the south and north of Britain.
“While spending on fruit and vegetables far outweighs spending on snack foods, there is still a misconception among some shoppers that healthy foods are more expensive than convenience snack foods. Snacking on fruit and vegetables can be more cost-effective than buying pre-prepared snacks, not to mention the nutritional benefits of following a diet with lots of portions of fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat.
“Food prices have gone up over the past year or so, but there is no reason to cut down on your fruit and veg. Since the start of the recession, supermarkets have introduced more deals on fruit and vegetables than ever before, making it cheaper and more convenient to fit healthy eating into our hectic lifestyles.”
