A new report from the Fruit and Vegetable Consortium, partnered by Medibank, found that eating behaviours of Australians worsened during the pandemic and calls for a national behaviour change strategy to lift vegetable consumption.
Fruit and Vegetable Consortium Chair Lucinda Hancock said we need a game changer to get Australians back into eating habits that will be good for their long-term health.
“Australians know that eating an extra serve of vegetables daily is a simple way to improve their health, but the pandemic and lockdowns reinforced barriers linked to affordability, concerns over food waste and the lack of time and inspiration needed to prepare good meals,” Ms Hancock said.
“Governments have a range of good strategies to improve preventative health, reduce obesity, lift health literacy and reduce food waste. A national behaviour change campaign can empower consumers with the information they need to make the right choices for themselves.
“As well as improving health outcomes, increased vegetable consumption will have the added benefit of supporting growers, regional communities and retailers.”
Medibank Chief Medical Officer, Dr Linda Swan, said the report findings were concerning but provided realistic recommendations to improve health outcomes.
“While it sounds simple to have an extra serve of fruit and vegetables a day, in reality it is a much more complex issue; we know that food literacy, access and affordability play a huge role in the eating habits of Australians,” Dr Swan said.
It will also have a huge impact on government health expenditure – more than $200 million could be wiped from Australia’s ballooning health budget if Australians ate just extra cup of vegetables each day.
“At Medibank, we are working on improving food literacy through our health and wellbeing program, Live Better. We also have a number of preventative health programs for members with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and arthritis.
“Approximately $38 billion is spent each year on care for people with chronic disease and almost half of all Australian adults have preventable health conditions. Being proactive about chronic disease management and prevention is needed to deliver better health outcomes, while also delivering long-term sustainable benefits for the health system.
“A key element to improving health and wellbeing is eating well and I hope the findings of this report encourage all Australians to review their diet and take nutrition seriously.”
To support the report, Medibank’s health and wellbeing program, Live Better, will be putting out a bespoke challenge to encourage members to eat more vegetables in the month of November and earn 750 Live Better points.
The headline findings of the report included:
91 per cent of Australians are not eating the recommended five serves of vegetables each day
17 per cent of Australians are eating fewer vegetables compared to pre-pandemic consumption
81 per cent of Australians agree that eating one more serve of vegetables a day is a simple way to improve their long-term health
72 per cent of consumers say affordability is impacting their consumption of vegetables
41 per cent of consumers say food waste is impacting their consumption of vegetables
39 per cent of consumers say a lack of time and inspiration is impacting their consumption of vegetables.
The FVC is a collaboration led by Nutrition Australia and AUSVEG with 10 executive members spanning leaders across the horticulture and health sectors who have joined forces to make increasing vegetable consumption a national priority for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
