Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030

Objective: In Australia, ‘improving access to and the consumption of a healthy diet’ is a focus in the National Preventive Health Strategy. The objective of this paper is to describe the past trends and future projections of population intakes against the Strategy’s targets of increasing fruit consu...

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Main Authors: Matthew Ryan, Danielle L. Baird, Gilly A. Hendrie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-04-01
Series:Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020025000044
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author Matthew Ryan
Danielle L. Baird
Gilly A. Hendrie
author_facet Matthew Ryan
Danielle L. Baird
Gilly A. Hendrie
author_sort Matthew Ryan
collection DOAJ
description Objective: In Australia, ‘improving access to and the consumption of a healthy diet’ is a focus in the National Preventive Health Strategy. The objective of this paper is to describe the past trends and future projections of population intakes against the Strategy’s targets of increasing fruit consumption to 2 servings per day; increasing vegetables to 5 servings; and reducing discretionary foods to <20% of total energy by 2030. Methods: Self-reported intake data were available from an online survey of 275,170 Australian adults collected between 2015 and 2023. Dietary intake was modelled for sex and four age groups and forecasted towards 2030 using gamma-generalised linear models. Results: By 2030, fruit intake is predicted to decrease by 9.7%, discretionary food intake predicted to increase by 18.3%, and vegetable intake predicted to remain stable (but well short of national targets). Differences by sex and age group included an increase in fruit predicted for 18-30 year-olds, and a decrease in vegetables for females but an increase for males. Conclusions: Without significant intervention, it will be difficult to meet Australia’s preventive health dietary targets. Implications for Public Health: Continuous monitoring will be important to inform targeted interventions to improve diet quality and health outcomes.
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spelling doaj-art-50c795dd973746a1b6fa37398bcf67212025-08-20T02:09:38ZengElsevierAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health1326-02002025-04-0149210022310.1016/j.anzjph.2025.100223Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030Matthew Ryan0Danielle L. Baird1Gilly A. Hendrie2Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Health &amp; Biosecurity, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia; Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, AustraliaCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Health &amp; Biosecurity, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, AustraliaCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Health &amp; Biosecurity, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia; Correspondence to: Tel.: +61 8 8305 0662Objective: In Australia, ‘improving access to and the consumption of a healthy diet’ is a focus in the National Preventive Health Strategy. The objective of this paper is to describe the past trends and future projections of population intakes against the Strategy’s targets of increasing fruit consumption to 2 servings per day; increasing vegetables to 5 servings; and reducing discretionary foods to <20% of total energy by 2030. Methods: Self-reported intake data were available from an online survey of 275,170 Australian adults collected between 2015 and 2023. Dietary intake was modelled for sex and four age groups and forecasted towards 2030 using gamma-generalised linear models. Results: By 2030, fruit intake is predicted to decrease by 9.7%, discretionary food intake predicted to increase by 18.3%, and vegetable intake predicted to remain stable (but well short of national targets). Differences by sex and age group included an increase in fruit predicted for 18-30 year-olds, and a decrease in vegetables for females but an increase for males. Conclusions: Without significant intervention, it will be difficult to meet Australia’s preventive health dietary targets. Implications for Public Health: Continuous monitoring will be important to inform targeted interventions to improve diet quality and health outcomes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020025000044vegetablesfruitdiscretionary foodmodelingpredicted intake
spellingShingle Matthew Ryan
Danielle L. Baird
Gilly A. Hendrie
Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
vegetables
fruit
discretionary food
modeling
predicted intake
title Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030
title_full Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030
title_fullStr Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030
title_full_unstemmed Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030
title_short Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030
title_sort fruit vegetables and discretionary food intake in australian adults past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030
topic vegetables
fruit
discretionary food
modeling
predicted intake
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020025000044
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AT daniellelbaird fruitvegetablesanddiscretionaryfoodintakeinaustralianadultspasttrendsandpredictedprogresstowardspopulationpreventivehealthtargetsfor2030
AT gillyahendrie fruitvegetablesanddiscretionaryfoodintakeinaustralianadultspasttrendsandpredictedprogresstowardspopulationpreventivehealthtargetsfor2030