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According to a study that looked at regional eating habits in the UK, Londoners are the healthiest Brits. The north-south divide was very evident in the study, with shoppers in the capital spending 26 per cent more on fresh fruit and vegetables than those in the north. A well known grocery and shopping price comparison website conducted the study, using sales figures from some of the biggest supermarkets to collect their data.

Overall, fruit and veg sales have dropped

The study’s data was taken from mySupermarket.co.uk’s annual Health Food Index for 2010, and showed that sales of fruit and veg across the UK have dropped by six per cent in the last year. This is despite the fact that special offers on fresh fruit and vegetables have risen by 17 per cent in the last twelve months – and by a whopping 48 per cent since 2008.

What we’re eating

Londoners, in terms of fruit and veg consumption, are the healthiest eaters in the UK. For the second year running they topped the list for being the healthy shopping habits in the UK, with individual households spending, on average, £499.81 on fruit and vegetables a year. Scottish shoppers, towards the bottom of the list, spend more than any other region in one category – pre-prepared packs of mixed vegetables. The key to healthy Scots may well be in supermarkets peeling and chopping their vegetables for them.

Little change

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Spokesperson for mySupermarket.co.uk, Johnny Steel, told The Press Association: ‘Our annual Health Food Index last year showed us that Northerners were eating the least fruit and veg. We were hoping to see the disparity we uncovered last year lessen but there’s actually been very little change over the past 12 months.

‘There’s definitely a misconception that healthy foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables are more expensive than processed food, which is simply not true, particularly if bought in season.’

Easy to prepare

Steamed and grilled vegetables are very easy to prepare, and really not as expensive as you might think, while fruit makes the perfect snack. For your health, you may want to follow the example of Londoners.

Tags: eating healthy, grill, steamer, vegetables