Diet

Introduction

A healthy diet is essential for adequate growth, to maintain a healthy weight, achieve optimal mental and physical health, fight infection and protect against chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. The Australian dietary guidelines recommend the healthiest diets are based on wide variety of healthy and nutritious foods from the five food groups every day and drinking plenty of water.¹ Environmental, behavioural, biological, societal and genetic factors all impact on the ability to achieve a healthy diet and prevent and/or manage diet-related health conditions.

Most Queenslanders do not meet recommended diet patterns.² Individuals, and society more broadly, are negatively affected by poor nutrition:

• In 2018, combined dietary risks accounted for 5.4% of the total burden of disease (DALY).³
• In 2008, it was estimated that, nationally, inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption cost the health sector $206 million, with another $63 million in production losses.⁴

Latest results

Adults

In 2021, 47.5% of Queensland adults ate the recommended serves of fruit each day. For vegetable consumption, 7.4% of Queensland adults met the recommended daily number of serves, while 37.2% ate three or more serves a day.

Adult Queenslanders who ate the recommended daily serves of fruit were more likely to be:

• female
• older
• living in a more socioeconomically advantaged area (Figure 1).

Adult Queenslanders who ate the recommended daily serves of vegetables were more likely to be female. Meeting vegetable consumption guidelines was not associated with other sociodemographic characteristics.

Figure 1: Adult consumption of fruit and vegetables in Queensland, 2021

Children and young people

In 2022, 68.8% of Queensland children ate the recommended number of serves of fruit each day (Figure 2). Very few Queensland children (2.8%) ate the recommended daily serves of vegetables, although one-quarter (24.3%) ate three or more serves of vegetables.

In 2022, fruit and vegetable consumption patterns were mostly similar across sociodemographic characteristics. Children consuming the recommended serves of fruit were more likely to be female and younger, but other sociodemographic characteristics did not differ.

Figure 2: Child consumption of fruit and vegetables in Queensland, 2022

In 2019, parents participating in the Queensland preventive health survey were asked questions about current actions or intentions to make their child’s diet healthier. Overall, 39.1% of parents were currently taking action to make their child’s diet healthier, while 60.9% of parents were not. Almost half (46.8%) were not considering any action (Figure 3).

Concern about the child’s weight was a primary factor in parents taking or planning to take action to improve their child’s diet. Intentions to improve their child’s diet within the next year was associated with the number of risky dietary behaviours of the child.

Figure 3: Parent readiness to make their child's diet healthier in Queensland, 2019

Trends

Adults

From 2005 to 2022, the percentage of adults eating:

• the recommended daily serves of fruit decreased by 6.7%. The rate of change varied by age group.
• five or more serves of vegetables decreased by 19.5%. The rate of change varied by age group and socioeconomic status (Figure 3).

Figure 4: Trends in consumption of fruit and vegetables

Children and youth

Between 2013 and 2022, the prevalence of children meeting the guideline for fruit consumption was stable. The prevalence of children meeting the vegetable consumption guidelines decreased by 44.1%. There was no evidence that the decline was related to sociodemographic characteristics.

National comparisons

In 2017–18, the percentage of Queensland adults consuming the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables daily was similar to that of the rest of Australia. In the Australian states and territories, Queensland ranked 3rd for recommended daily fruit consumption and 6th for recommended vegetable consumption.⁵

Additional information

Data and statistics

Summary results from the Queensland preventive health survey (QPHS) for Hospital and Health Services and other regions can be found within this report and more detailed and historical results can be accessed at Preventive health surveys.

Strategies and information

For more information about nutrition and dietary guidelines visit:

• The National Health and Medical Research Council—Nutrition and Australian dietary guidelines
• The Department of Health and Aged Care—Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy: 2019 and beyond
• Health and Wellbeing Queensland
• Cancer Council Queensland—Healthy eating and drinking
• My health for life to take a personal health check and learn more about healthy lifestyles.

Section technical notes

Where presented, ratios were calculated using higher precision estimates than in text. Ratios calculated using estimates in text may differ.

Data for this section were sourced from:

• Queensland preventive health survey (QPHS) (See Preventive health surveys for further information)
• Australian Secondary School Alcohol and Drugs Survey (ASSAD) (See Australian secondary school students alcohol and drug survey for further information)
• Productivity Commission’s annual Report on Government Services (See Report on Government Services for further information).

At the time of publication, national comparisons more recent than 2017–18 were not available due to a COVID-related delay in the conduct of the ABS’s National Health Survey and the manner in which the data was collected. Further details can be found at National Health Survey: First Results methodology.

References

1. National Health and Medical Research Council. 2013. The Australian Dietary Guidelines. Canberra: Australian Government.
2. Queensland Health. 2018. Are Queenslanders meeting the Australian Dietary Guidelines? Daily diets and total energy intake.
3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2021. Australian Burden of Disease Study: Impact and causes of illness and death in Australia 2018. doi: 10.25816/5PS1-J259.
4. Cadilhac D.A., Magnus A., Cumming T., Sheppard L., Pearce D. & Carter R. 2009. The Health and Economic Benefits of Reducing Disease Risk Factors. Melbourne: VicHealth.
5. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2018. National Health Survey: First Results, 2017-18. Accessed: 1 February 2023.