The peak industry body for vegetable growers, AUSVEG, is urging Australians to buy more vegetables to meet the daily intake guidelines.
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An Australian Bureau of Statistics report says Australians are only buying enough vegetables for 2.3 daily serves, well short of the recommended five or more daily serves.The ABS figures were taken from the Apparent Consumption of Foodstuffs, Australia, 2018 to 2019 report, which looked at sales of food from supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience and speciality stores.AUSVEG chief executive officer James Whiteside said the latest figures from the ABS were concerning, given the importance of a vegetable-rich diet in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.“The reality is that most Australians are setting themselves up for failure in meeting the recommended intake of vegetables by not buying enough vegetables,” Mr Whiteside said.“We know that most Australians do not eat enough vegetables to meet the recommended dietary guidelines. “People tend to eat more vegetables when they are able to eat out at cafes and restaurants.
“The disruption of the food service sector from the coronavirus pandemic has severely limited this avenue, and unfortunately people are not buying more vegetables to compensate for this.”The recommended daily vegetable intake used in the report comes from the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines, which recommends adults eat at least five servings of vegetables a day — with one serving of vegetables equivalent to half a cup of cooked vegetables, half a medium potato or one cup of salad vegetables.“The health benefits of increasing vegetable consumption are well-documented, but the rates of consumption are still unacceptably low — and getting lower,” Mr Whiteside said.“Vegetable growers are deeply committed to increasing vegetable consumption and are working alongside the food and health industries as part of the Fruit and Vegetable Consortium to pool research, knowledge and passion to improve the health and wellbeing of Australian men, women and children.“The Fruit and Vegetable Consortium is also developing a business case and prospectus for potential funders, including government, retailers and other interested sectors, to outline the investment needed for a sustained, comprehensive behavioural change campaign to increase vegetable consumption.”Mr Whiteside said more work needed to be done to boost vegetable intake to improve Australians’ health and wellbeing.