May typically begins the four strongest months of the year in overall healthy behaviors, but this year, Americans’ health habits did not increase in May and are worse compared with 2010.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which tracks U.S. via daily interviews of no fewer than 1,000 adults, indicates Hispanics and young adults are the least likely to eat fruits and vegetables frequently. However, produce consumption was down among seniors and women as well.

The Americans’ Healthy Behaviors Index score was 63.8 in May, down from 65.2 in May of last year.

Respondents were asked if they ate healthy all day “yesterday” and on how many days they consumed five or more servings of fruits and vegetables in the last seven days.

Fewer Americans reported eating healthily in May this year than did so last year, 66.2 percent versus 68.2 percent.

Are people ignoring all the messages from the government and the media?

Personally, I’m inclined to think that the economy has something to do with it. Although there are some exceptions, fresh/minimally processed veggies/fruits aren’t cheap. When you’re on a tight budget, you have to make your food dollars stretch as much as possible, so fruits/veggies may be getting slighted for this reason.