The association between public health unit funding and vegetable and fruit intake in Ontario: A multilevel analysis of the 2013-2014 Canadian Community Health Survey.

Objective: Robust public health systems are vital for preventing disease and injury, improving well-being, and promoting health equity. The study objective was to estimate the association between public health funding and fruit and vegetable intake.

Methods: Participants were residents aged 12 years and older living within 34 public health unit (PHU) regions in Ontario, Canada (n = 36,500). Secondary cross-sectional data from the population-representative 2013-2014 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) were used. Vegetable and fruit intake was self reported in the CCHS along with individual covariates. PHU funding per capita and other area-level social characteristics were measured at the level of the public health region.

Results: PHU funding per capita was not associated with vegetable and fruit intake overall (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.97, 1.07) or in gender-stratified analyses (males: OR = 1.06, 95% CI 0.99, 1.13; females: OR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.92, 1.05). Associations were not heterogenous across various sociodemographic indicators (age, gender, race, marital status, country of birth, education, income, urbanicity).

Conclusion: PHU funding per capita was not associated with vegetable and fruit intake. More refined measures of PHU funding for vegetable and fruit intake may be beneficial for future research.