Research

Meat-and-two-veg Australia not keeping up with 'two and five' each day

By RJ Whitehead

- Last updated on GMT

Aussies like their fruit, but eating more than two veggie portions a day is more taxing
Aussies like their fruit, but eating more than two veggie portions a day is more taxing

Related tags Nutrition Vegetable

Only one in 50 Australians is eating the recommended two servings of fruit and five of vegetables each day, according to new market research. And while many keep up with the right amount of fruit, veggies are a bigger problem.

The study, carried out by Roy Morgan on Australians over the age of 14, also found that individual consumption varies dramatically depending on age, gender and socioeconomic status.

Out of the two healthy food groups, most Australians fall short with vegetables, with 60% eating just two or less servings a day. Moreover, only 6% eat more than the recommended five servings.

Fruit in favour

Women tend to eat more than men, while those over 50 are generally more likely than their younger counterparts to eat three or more daily servings; however even though people over 65 are the most zealous veggie-eaters, a mere 8% out of this age group eat the recommended servings each day.

Those from the lowest socio-economic tend to the least vegetables of all, and are twice as likely than the average Australian to eat none at all.

In terms of fruit, one-third of women and 28% of men eat their recommended two servings each day, while around one-fifth of both genders eat more than that. 

Again, older Australians are more likely to meet the recommended intake, they are consistently outstripped by 14-17 year-olds, of whom almost two-thirds eat two or more servings per day.  

Meat and two veg

It is especially worrying that young adults are among the east likely segments of the population to eat both fruit and vegetables, said Angela Smith of Roy Morgan, who monitored the study.

Overall, young married parents are among the least likely segments of the population to get their ‘two-and-five’, which is cause for concern, as it suggests that their kids are probably missing out too​. 

Young singles also rate poorly for eating the recommended daily serves of fruit and veg, as of course do people from the [lower] socioeconomic quintile​.” 

Married people without kids tend to be a little likelier to eat their recommended daily servings, as do older single parents, Smith said.

Given that Australia’s traditional meat-and-two-veg culinary tradition might largely be behind the population’s off-target veggie consumption in particular, making it more difficult to come up with ways to include five servings a day, it will be interesting to see how the country’s increasingly multicultural population will affect this over time, she added.

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