Diet

The food and beverages we eat and drink (our diet) play an important role in our overall health and wellbeing. Food provides energy, nutrients and other components that, if provided in insufficient or excess amounts can result in ill health. The conditions often affected by our diet include coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer, type 2 diabetes, dental caries and nutritional anaemias.

What should Australians eat?

The Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG) (NHMRC 2013b) provide advice on healthy eating habits to promote overall health and wellbeing, reduce the risk of diet related diseases and protect against chronic conditions. They recommend Australians eat a wide variety of nutritious foods from the 5 food groups every day, including eating:

• plenty of vegetables, including different types and colours and legumes/beans
• fruit
• grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high fibre varieties, such as breads, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, polenta, couscous, oats, quinoa and barley
• lean meats and alternatives and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds and legumes/beans
• dairy, including milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives, mostly reduced fat (reduced fat milks are not suitable for children under 2)
• drink plenty of water.

Essential nutrients for good health are found in varying amounts throughout many different food groups. Variety in the diet maximises the possibility of obtaining enough of these essential nutrients.

Discretionary foods are foods that are not needed to meet nutrient requirements and do not fit into the 5 food groups. They are high in kilojoules, saturated fat, sodium (such as salt), added sugars and alcohol (NHMRC 2013b). The ADG recommends that discretionary foods should be consumed occasionally and in small amounts.

The ADG also provides advice on the number of serves of each food group that Australians should eat each day. Different amounts are recommended for people of different ages, sex, life stages, height and physical activity level. For more information on the dietary guidelines, see the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

For more information on the data sources used for this report, and for a summary of the recommended servings of the 5 food groups, please see Technical notes.

Fruit and vegetable intake

Children and adolescents

In 2022, based on self-reported daily consumption data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2022 National Health Survey (NHS), for children and adolescents aged 2−17, it was estimated that:

• 36% did not meet the recommended serves of fruit.
• 96% did not meet the recommended serves of vegetables.
• 96% did not meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables.
• 5.8% did not eat any fruits and 4.5% do not eat any vegetables (ABS 2023d) (Figure 1).

The proportion of children and adolescents who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables each day increased with age (ABS 2023d). Noting that the ADG recommendations also increases with age (NHMRC 2013b).

When comparing children in the youngest age group (2–3 years) with adolescents in the oldest age group (14–17 years), in 2022:

• 3.2% did not meet the recommended serves of fruit compared to 54%, respectively.
• 81% did not meet the recommended serves of vegetables compared to 96%, respectively.
• 81% did not meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables compared to 97%, respectively (ABS 2023d).

There were no differences in the proportion of boys and girls aged 2–17 who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit or vegetables (ABS 2023d) (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Proportion of children and adolescents aged 2–17 who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables, by age group and sex, 2022

Adults

Most adults do not eat the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables. In 2022, based on self-reported daily consumption data from the ABS 2022 NHS:

• 56% did not meet the recommended serves of fruit.
• 94% did not meet the recommended serves of vegetables.
• 96% did not meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables.
• 12% did not eat any fruit and 1.8% did not eat any vegetables (ABS 2023c).

The proportions of adults who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables decreased with age:

• 63% of those aged 18–24 did not meet the recommended serves of fruit, compared with 41% of people aged 75 and over.
• 97% of adults aged 18–24 did not meet the recommended serves of vegetables compared with 89% of people aged 75 and over (Figure 2) (ABS 2023c).

In 2022, men aged 18 years and over were less likely than women to meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables:

• 58% of men did not meet the recommended serves of fruit compared with 53% of women.
• 97% of men did not meet the recommended serves of vegetables compared with 90% of women (ABS 2023c) (Figure 2).
  

Figure 2: Proportion of adults aged 18 and over who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables, 2022

Trends in fruit and vegetable intake

After adjusting for the effects of age, the proportion of adults aged 18 and over:

• who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit increased to 57% in 2022 from 49% in 2017–18. In the previous decade from 2007–08 to 2017–18, this proportion remained between 49% to 52%.
• who did not meet the recommended serves of vegetables has remained relatively stable between 2007–08 to 2022, at around 93%–94%.
• who did not meet the recommended fruit and vegetable increased slightly to 96% in 2022 from 95% in 2017–18. In the previous decade from 2007–08 to 2017–18, this proportion remained between 95% and 96% (ABS 2023b) (Tables S3).

Apparent consumption

The number of serves of fruit and vegetable available per person from foods purchased (apparent consumption) is less than the recommended number of serves from the dietary guidelines and has:

• decreased for fruits, to 1.3 serves in 2022–23 from 1.4 serves in 2021–22
• decreased for vegetables and legumes/beans, to 2.2 serves in 2022–23 from 2.4 serves in 2021–22.

Vegetables had the largest absolute decrease in apparent consumption, across all 5 food groups, followed by fruit and dairy and alternatives. These data relate to food purchased and does not account for wastage and spoilage which is a particular issue with these food groups (ABS 2024).

How do dietary patterns vary by population groups?

For information on diet among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, see Determinants of health for First Nations people.

Remoteness area

In 2022, based on self-reported data from the ABS 2022 NHS, across remoteness areas, the proportion of adults aged 18 and over who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit or vegetables, respectively, were:

• 56% and 94% in Major cities
• 55% and 91% in Inner regional areas
• 59% and 92% in Outer Regional and Remote areas (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023a).

After adjusting for age differences, the proportion of Australians aged 18 and over who did not meet the recommended daily serves of fruit or vegetable were similar across remoteness areas (Table S4) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023a).

Socioeconomic area

In 2022, based on self-reported data, the proportion of adults aged 18 and over who did not meet the recommended serves of fruit was 61% in the lowest socioeconomic areas and 53% in the highest socioeconomic areas (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023a).

The proportion of those who did not meet the recommended serves of vegetables was 96% in the lowest socioeconomic areas and 92% in the highest socioeconomic areas (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023a).

After adjusting for age differences, more people in the lowest socioeconomic areas did not meet the recommended serves of fruit or vegetables, compared with those living in the highest socioeconomic areas, although the differences were not large (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023a) (Table S4).

Intake of grains, meat and alternatives, dairy products and alternatives

On average, Australians of all ages generally did not eat the recommended serves of grains, meat and alternatives, and dairy products and alternatives each day (see Tables 2 and 3 in Technical notes) (AIHW 2018). These foods, in addition to fruit and vegetables, make up the 5 food groups included in the ADGs to reduce diet related diseases. In 2011–12:

• children, adolescents and adults in most age groups did not meet the recommended serves of grains (except for boys aged 4–11, girls aged 9–11, and women aged 71 and over). Of adults aged 19 and over, 76% of women and 67% of men did not eat the recommended serves of grains.
• adherence to the recommended serves of meat and alternatives decreased from ages 2–3 to 12–13, before increasing slightly with age, but insufficient intake remained high across all age groups. Of adults aged 19 and over, 87% of women and 79% of men did not meet the recommended serves of meat and alternatives.
• younger children were more likely to meet the recommended serves of dairy and alternatives, but this reduced substantially from age 9–13, with 90% of the population not meeting the recommended serves (ABS 2016) (AIHW 2018).

For more information, see Nutrition across the life stages.

Apparent consumption

The number of serves available per person from foods purchased (apparent consumption) is less than the recommended number of serves from the dietary guidelines and has decreased for all 5 food groups:

• for grains and cereals, to 3.9 serves in 2022–23 from 4.0 serves in 2021–22
• for dairy and alternatives, to 1.5 serves in 2022–23 from 1.6 serves in 2021–22
• for lean meats and alternatives, to 1.8 serves in 2022–23 from 1.9 serves in 2021–22 (ABS 2024).

Between the period 2018–19 and 2022–23, apparent consumption of grains and cereals, and lean meat and alternative have remained stable, but have decreased for dairy and alternatives and fruit and vegetables (ABS 2024).

Grains and cereals

In 2022–23, grains and cereals purchased in Australia consisted of the following food types:

• grains (such as rice) (39.9%)
• breads (27.9%)
• flour (16.4%)
• oats (10.8%)
• breakfast cereal flakes (5.2%) (ABS 2024).

Eating mainly wholegrain or high fibre foods, rather than low fibre or highly refined foods are recommended in the ADGs (NHMRC 2013b). In 2022–23, 31.5% of apparent consumption of grains and cereals were wholegrain or high-fibre, which has steadily decreased from 34.1% in 2018–19 (ABS 2024).

Intake of discretionary foods, added sugars, saturated and trans fats and sodium

Australians eat too much food that is high in energy and low in nutrients (‘discretionary food’). In 2011–12, discretionary foods (including discretionary drinks, such as sugar sweetened soft drinks) accounted for:

• 29% of daily energy intake for boys and 32% for girls aged 2–3 (approximately 3 serves of discretionary foods per day)
• 41% of daily energy intake for boys and girls at age 14–18 (approximately 6 to 8 serves of discretionary foods per day)
• between 31% and 37% of daily energy intake for adults aged 19 and over – approximately 5 to 7 serves per day on average. For adults aged 51–70, alcoholic drinks account for more than one-fifth (22%) of discretionary food intake (AIHW 2018).

High intake of discretionary foods is at the expense of more nutritious foods from the 5 food groups and may contribute to Australians exceeding the recommended intakes of saturated fat, added sugars and sodium as well as contributing towards additional energy (kilojoules) intake (NHMRC 2013a).

In 2011–12, Australians ate too much added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium with:

• added sugar contributing between 8% and 13% of daily energy intake in children and adolescents aged 2–18; for adults aged 19 and over, this was between 8% and 11%.
• saturated and trans fat contributing between 13% and 14% of daily energy intake in children and adolescents aged 2–18; for adults aged 19 and over, this was between 12% and 15%.
• sodium intake between about 2.6 and 3.8 times more than the recommended adequate intake level in children and adolescents aged 2–18; for adults aged 19 and over, this was between about 1.9 and 3.4 times above the adequate intake level (AIHW 2018).

Apparent consumption of discretionary foods

Discretionary foods contributed to 38.6% of the available dietary energy per person from food purchased, in 2022–23. This was similar to the previous two 12-months periods (38.6% in 2020–21 and 38.5% in 2021–22), but was an increase since 2018–19 (37.9%) (ABS 2024).

From 2021–22 to 2022–23, available dietary energy per person from energy and sport drinks purchased increased by 3.3%, and for chicken dishes such as chicken nuggets increased by 2.6%. Over the 5 year period from 2018–19 to 2022–23, available dietary energy per person from discretionary foods purchased increased the most for potato snacks, such as potato crisps (up 16%) and chocolate and chocolate-based confectionary (up 10%).

In 2022–23, the top 3 contributors to discretionary food apparent consumption were (ABS 2024):

• cereal based products (20.9%) such as sweet and savoury biscuits, cakes, muffins and pastries
• confectionary (16.5%) such as chocolates, fruit, nut and seed-bars, and muesli bars
• snack foods (9.3%) such as potato and corn snacks (ABS 2024).

Note that apparent consumption data does not include alcoholic drinks (which is considered a discretionary food by the Australian Dietary Guidelines).

For more information on Alcohol consumption, see Alcohol.

Apparent consumption of free sugar (including added sugar), saturated fat, and sodium

Dietary energy available per person from free sugar (that is sugar added to foods during manufacturing or cooking stages, as well as sugar naturally present in juice and honey) and saturated fat in foods purchased are both higher than the recommended dietary intake for these nutrients, in 2022–23 (Table 1). The amount of sodium available per person (3,095 mg) from foods purchased is 1.5 times higher than the recommended intake (ABS 2024) (Table 1). 

In 2022–23, of dietary energy available per person from food sold:

• around 12.3% is from free sugar, which was similar to 2020–21 (12.2%). Of the free sugar, 91.9% was added sugar (added to foods during processing and preparation).
• 15% is from saturated fat and 0.7% came from trans fatty acids, which was similar to 2020–21 and 2021–22. Discretionary and non-discretionary foods each contributed around half of the available saturated fat (49.6% and 50.4% respectively) in 2022–23 (ABS 2024) (Table 1).

Notes

1. Sugars naturally present in unrefined foods such as fruit and unflavoured milk are not considered free sugar.
2. Recommendation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for free sugars.
3. Recommendation from the Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand (NRVs).
4. The apparent consumption of sodium does not take into account foods purchased from fast food outlets, takeaway and restaurants. Additionally, the proportion of salt purchased for non-food uses is not known so apparent consumption of sodium from sales of salt may be an overestimation (ABS 2024).
5. The Suggested Dietary Target (SDT) recommends 2000 mg/day of sodium which is also consistent with the 2012 WHO guideline for sodium consumption which recommends less than 2000 mg/day for adults.

Sources: ABS 2024; NHMRC 2013a; WHO 2015.

For more information, please see the ABS Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs.

What are the health impacts of dietary risks?

Burden of disease is a measure of the years of healthy life lost from living with ill health or dying prematurely from disease and injury. A portion of this burden is due to modifiable risk factors. Burden of disease analysis estimates the contribution of these risk factors to this burden.

In 2018, dietary risk factors were the third leading risk factor contributing to ill health and premature deaths after tobacco use, and overweight and obesity in Australia (AIHW 2021). Dietary risks factors include components where adequate amounts in the diet are required to prevent disease, as well as diets where excessive consumption contributes to disease development. The 12 individual dietary risk factors were:

• a diet low in: fruit, vegetables, milk, nuts and seeds, whole grains and high fibre cereals, legumes, polyunsaturated fat, and fish and seafood
• a diet high in: sodium, sugar-sweetened beverages, and red and processed meats.

Dietary risk factors combined were the fourth leading risk factor contributing to deaths – around 15,800 deaths (9.9% of total deaths) in 2018 (AIHW 2021).

Dietary risk factors were linked to 16 diseases and contributed to:

• 50% of coronary heart disease total burden
• 26% of bowel cancer burden
• 26% of type 2 diabetes burden
• 26% of stroke burden (AIHW 2021).

In 2018, males experience a greater amount of disease burden due to dietary risks factors than females in all ages up to age 84. Total disease burden attributable to dietary risk factors was twice as high in the lowest (most disadvantaged) socioeconomic areas compared with the highest areas (least disadvantaged) (AIHW 2021).

For more information on the disease burden due to dietary risks, see the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018: Interactive data on risk factor burden.

Strategies to improve the consumption of a healthy diet

Australia’s National Preventive Health Strategy (NPHS) 2021-2030 aims to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians at all stages of life, through a whole-of-government approach to prevention that addresses the wider determinants of health, reduces health inequities and decreases the overall burden of disease. The NPHS strongly emphasises that preventive action must focus on the wider determinants of health to address the increasing complexity of health issues and the interconnected causes of poor health and wellbeing.

As a nutritious diet contributes to the overall health and wellbeing of Australians, and reduces the risk of poor health and disease, the NPHS has identified this as a focus area where better-coordinated effort will accelerate health gains, particularly for communities experiencing unfair disease burden (Department of Health and Aged Care 2021). 

The National Obesity Strategy 2022–2032 is a framework for action to prevent, reduce and treat overweight or obesity in Australia. It recognises that the root causes of overweight or obesity are complex and embedded in the way we live (Commonwealth of Australia 2022). To address this issue, it requires changes to systems, environments and commercial determinants that affect Australians’ opportunities to live healthy lives. Improving access to and the consumption of a healthy diet are objectives of this strategy.

There are 5 nutrition related targets, of which 4 are shared by the NPHS and the National Obesity Strategy (targets 1, and 3 to 6), and one is from the National Obesity Strategy only (target 2) (Commonwealth of Australia 2022; Department of Health and Aged Care 2021):

1. Adults, adolescents and children aged 9 and over increase their vegetable consumption to an average 5 serves per day by 2030 – the estimated average number of serves of vegetables consumed decreased in 2022 from 2017–18, across most age groups. The average daily serves of vegetables consumed in 2022 and 2017–18, respectively, for:
   • children and adolescents aged 9–11 was 1.9 and 2.1
   • adolescents aged 12–13 was 2.1 and 2.0
   • adolescents aged 14–17 was 2.0 and 2.2
   • adults aged 18 and over was 2.4 for both periods (ABS 2018a, 2018b, 2023c, 2023d).
2. Adults, adolescents and children aged 9 and over maintain or increase their fruit consumption to an average 2 serves per day by 2030 – the estimated average number of serves of fruit consumed decreased in 2022 from 2017–18, across most age groups. The average daily serves of fruits consumed in 2022 and 2017–18, respectively, for:
   • children and adolescents aged 9–11 was 2.0 and 2.2
   • adolescents aged 12–13 was 1.6 and 1.9
   • adolescents aged 14–17 was 1.5 and 1.9
   • adults aged 18 and over was 1.5 and 1.7 (ABS 2018a, 2018b, 2023c, 2023d).
3. Reduce the proportion of children and adults’ total energy intake from discretionary foods from greater than 30% to less than 20% by 2030 – in 2011–12, across all ages, 35% of total energy consumed was from discretionary foods, with the highest amongst 14–18-year-olds (41%). No new data are currently available to compare with this baseline.
4. Reduce the average population sodium intake by at least 30% by 2030 – in 2011–12, average daily intake of sodium from food was just over 2,404 mg. No new data are currently available to compare with this baseline.
5. Increase the proportion of adults, adolescents and children who are not exceeding the recommended intake of free sugars by 2030 – in 2011–12, over half of Australians (52%) aged 2 and over exceeded 10% of dietary energy from free sugars. No new data are currently available to compare with this baseline.
6. At least 50% of babies are exclusively breastfed until around 6 months of age by 2025 – in 2010, around 39% of infants were exclusively breastfed to 3 months, and 15% to 5 months. No new comparable data are currently available to compare against this baseline.

While no new data are currently available for targets 3 to 5, the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey is scheduled to be conducted again in 2023 to 2024 as part of the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study. See section on Apparent consumption of discretionary foods and Apparent consumption of free sugar (including added sugar), saturated fat and sodium for information on apparent consumption of discretionary foods, sugars and sodium. See Australia’s mothers and babies and Breastfeeding for more information on breastfeeding.

For more information, see the Department of Health and Aged Care National Preventive Health Strategy 2021–2030and National Obesity Strategy 2022–2032

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on diet, see:

• Nutrition across the life stages
• Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018: Interactive data on risk factor burden
• Australia’s mothers and babies – Breastfeeding

Visit Food & nutrition to see more on this topic.

Technical notes

About the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Surveys

This web report uses data from the following surveys from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS):

• 2022 National Health Survey (NHS)
• ABS 2011–12 National Nutrition and Physical activity Survey
• Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuff.

The National Health Survey is a series of surveys designed to collect a range of information about the health of Australians, including:

• prevalence of long-term health conditions.
• health risk factors such as smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol consumption and exercise.
• use of health services such as consultations with health practitioners and actions people have recently taken for their health.
• demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

For more information, see National Health Survey.

The 2011–12 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey is part of the 2011–13 Australian Health Survey. It collected detailed physical activity information as well as 24-hour dietary recall of food and beverage consumption, with general information on dietary behaviours. It is the most recent detailed data available on physical activity and sedentary screen time for children and adolescents aged 2–14. The NNPAS is scheduled to be conducted again in 2023–2024 as part of the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study.

For more information, see National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey.

About the ABS Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuff

The primary data source used is the aggregated scanner data (SD) provided to the ABS from major supermarkets. The aggregated data are based on information compiled from barcode scanning at the point of sale. The major supermarkets that provide data to the ABS account for an estimated 82% of Food Retail sector.

The Household Expenditure Survey (HES) is undertaken every six years, with the most recent survey in 2015–16. The 2015–16 HES is used to help estimate and impute the value of purchases made at stores other than the major supermarkets in the SD.

For further information, refer to the Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs, Australia methodology.

Recommended daily serves of the 5 food groups

Tables 2 and 3 summarise the recommended number of serves of vegetable and fruit, grains, meat and alternatives, and dairy and alternatives per day, by sex and different age groups.

Notes

1. Recommendation is to consume mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties.
2. Examples include lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nut and seeds, and legumes/beans.

Source: NHMRC 2013a.

Notes

1. Recommendation is to consume mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties.
2. Examples include lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nut and seeds, and legumes/beans.

Source: NHMRC 2013a.

For more information on the dietary guidelines for other food groups, see the Australian Dietary Guidelines