Australians are shunning fruits and vegetables while consuming three times the recommended daily allowance of junk food, a survey which asked more than 40,000 people about their eating habits has found.
On average, Australians scored 61 points out of 100 for their diet quality, which was assessed using the the CSIRO Healthy Diet Score, a scientific survey which measures diet quality against the Australian dietary guidelines.
The guidelines recommend adults eat two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day, with half a cup of cooked vegetables, one cup of salad vegetables, one medium piece of fruit or one cup of diced fruit representing one serve. Fruit juices do not count.
The survey found women scored higher than men on average – at 63 versus 57 points. Diet quality also improved with age, the survey found, with female responders aged over 70 scoring the highest (71) of any age category.
Renowned nutritionist, Dr Rosemary Stanton, said the findings from the CSIRO research was similar to results from other recent surveys.
“We’re getting the results through from the latest Australian Health Survey, and that’s telling us 6.8% of Australians are eating the recommended amount of vegetables,” Stanton said.
That was 39% less than in 1995, she said.
“We’ve gone backwards on our vegetable consumption, while our fruit consumption hasn’t changed, with people still getting on average one serve per day,” she said.
“People aren’t deliberately saying they won’t eat their vegetables, but the way they are eating has changed.”
People no longer had time to prepare and cook evening meals, she said, while long commutes to and from work meant people often ate on the go. Quick and pre-packaged meals were less likely to be healthy, she said.
“More women are also moving out of house and into the workforce, and no one is replacing them in the kitchen,” she said.
“Yet we still expect one person to do all the cooking and to be responsible for all of the meals, and helping out in the kitchen is seen as buying take-away. Most kids don’t know how to cook, and because most of the responsibility for food is still left to women, if she gets home tired after work and finds the kids have already fed themselves, she’s just happy she doesn’t have to cook.”
An increasing number of single person households also meant people were loathe to prepare a whole meal for one, Stanton said.
There was a large variation in diet quality scores among occupations, the survey found, with the highest marks going to personal trainers (66.8), retirees (65.9), health care workers (64.3) and education professionals (62.3).
At the other end of the scale were construction workers (55.3), those in buying and purchasing (55.6), and operations and logistics workers(55.9). The unemployed also did not fare well (56.9).
Professor Manny Noakes, the CSIRO research director for nutrition and health, said discretionary or junk foods, including foods and drinks high in added sugar, refined starch, saturated fats and alcohol, while being low in essential nutrients, were being consumed frequently.
“What we’re finding is people are having larger portions of junk food, more often,” Noakes said.
“This type of food is no longer just an indulgence, it’s become mainstream and Australians are eating it each and every day.”
To improve diet quality, people should eat more fresh food prepared from scratch, and eat smaller portions, she said.
“They also need to be more mindful of every bite they take by eating more slowly and consciously.”