Table 1.
Fixed-effects regression estimates showing the relationship between the quantity/frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption, and mental well-being, as measured using a reversed form of the GHQ-12 (reversed GHQ-12).
| Dependent variable: Reversed GHQ-12 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | |
| Portions of fruit and veg per day (on a typical day when at least one portion is consumed) | 0.116*** | 0.118*** | 0.133*** | |
| (0.0217) | (0.0220) | (0.0245) | ||
| Days each week eat fruit (reference is never) | ||||
| 1–3 days | 0.259*** | |||
| (0.0896) | ||||
| 4–6 days | 0.423*** | |||
| (0.0989) | ||||
| Every day | 0.613*** | |||
| (0.0982) | ||||
| Days each week eat vegetables (reference is never) | ||||
| 1–3 days | 0.518*** | |||
| (0.171) | ||||
| 4–6 days | 0.803*** | |||
| (0.175) | ||||
| Every day | 0.925*** | |||
| (0.177) | ||||
| Demographics | ||||
| Age | −0.112 | −0.115 | −0.202** | |
| (0.136) | (0.148) | (0.0801) | ||
| Age2 | 0.00242*** | 0.00253*** | 0.00225*** | |
| (0.000355) | (0.000405) | (0.000215) | ||
| Income (prev month) | 0.00000258 | 0.00000477 | 0.0000109 | |
| (1.39e-05) | (1.49e-05) | (9.53e-06) | ||
| Married | 0.157 | 0.255 | 0.0266 | |
| (0.184) | (0.193) | (0.119) | ||
| Divorced | −0.245 | −0.231 | −0.135 | |
| (0.267) | (0.294) | (0.166) | ||
| Widowed | −0.591* | −0.682* | −0.825*** | |
| (0.352) | (0.409) | (0.218) | ||
| Number of children | −0.0846 | −0.103 | −0.0325 | |
| (0.0635) | (0.0686) | (0.0424) | ||
| Employment status (reference is self-employed) | ||||
| Employed | −0.310** | −0.367** | −0.185* | |
| (0.155) | (0.168) | (0.105) | ||
| Unemployed | −1.952*** | −1.903*** | −1.803*** | |
| (0.203) | (0.220) | (0.139) | ||
| Inactive | −0.921*** | −0.746*** | −0.773*** | |
| (0.172) | (0.185) | (0.117) | ||
| Lifestyle/health | ||||
| Currently a smoker | −0.247* | |||
| (0.145) | ||||
| Days walked 10 min | 0.0175*** | |||
| (0.00345) | ||||
| Long standing health condition | −0.568*** | |||
| (0.0826) | ||||
| Dairy consumption dummies | No | No | Yes | No |
| Bread consumption dummies | No | No | Yes | No |
| Education dummies | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time (wave) dummies | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Constant |
24.44*** | 23.71*** | 23.77*** | 27.79*** |
| (0.0736) |
(6.168) |
(6.493) |
(3.559) |
|
| Observations | 79608 | 77913 | 66042 | 114560 |
| R2 | 0.001 | 0.008 | 0.013 | 0.01 |
| Number of unique individuals | 52182 | 51456 | 45600 | 58137 |
Standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1.
Notes: The four fixed-effects regressions in this table assess the impact of within-person changes in fruit and vegetable consumption on mental well-being, as measured by the reversed GHQ-12. (1) includes only a measure of the number of portions consumed on a day where at least one portion is consumed. (2) and (3) add variables for demographics, lifestyle/health, and consumption of bread/dairy. These three regressions use Waves 2 and 5 of the UKHLS. (4) uses the general form of (2), but measures fruit consumption frequency and vegetable consumption frequency across three Waves (2, 5, and 7). Additional controls on lifestyle/health and consumption of other foods were not available for all three Waves. All models show significant positive relationships between fruit and vegetable consumption, and mental well-being.