A communication inequalities approach to disparities in fruit and vegetable consumption: Findings from a national survey with U.S. adults

•Both education and income were positively correlated with fruit and vegetable consumption.•Differences in fruit and vegetable consumption across social groups are explained by communication inequalities.•Social capital was found to be positively correlated with fruit and vegetable consumption. This study assessed whether socioeconomic disparities in fruit and vegetable consumption and its differences by social capital are accounted for by exposure to media information about fruits and vegetables and reflective integration of that information. Online survey data were collected in July 2014 from 572 U.S. adults from a nationally representative online panel. Path analysis was employed to test our models. Education and social capital were positively associated with media exposure, which was in turn positively related to reflective integration and finally led to fruit and vegetable consumption. Education and income were positively associated with social capital. Differences in fruit and vegetable consumption across social groups are at least partly explained by exposure to information about fruits and vegetables from the media, and by reflective integration of that information. Healthcare professionals and health educators should create health messages delivered via the media that are easy to understand with an appropriate level of health literacy. Also, health interventions that aim to build social capital may promote health media use and its reasoning processes, thereby reducing communication inequalities by SES as well as disparities in fruit and vegetable consumption.