New research from Colmar Brunton has found that Australians are overestimating the healthiness of their diets, with many consumers thinking they are getting their full recommended daily dose of vegetables while actually falling short by more than a serve every day.
According to the latest Colmar Brunton report, more than a third of consumers believe they “definitely” eat enough vegetables each day – but data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has indicated that fewer than one in 10 consumers actually eat the five or more daily serves of vegetables recommended by Australian dietary guidelines.
The Colmar Brunton report indicates that 34 per cent of consumers believe they eat enough vegetables every day, but the average intake for these respondents is only 3.4 serves daily – significantly fewer than the five or more recommended for women and five to six or more recommended for men.
“It’s concerning that such a high proportion of consumers think they’re getting enough vegetables in their diets when they’re actually missing out by more than one and a half serves every day,” AUSVEG spokesperson Shaun Lindhe said.
A standard serve of vegetables is considered to be 75g, which equals roughly half a cup of cooked green or orange vegetables, a full cup of green leafy vegetables, or half a medium-size potato.
“These findings suggest that many Australians may not be aware of their actual recommended amount of daily servings of vegetables, and are basing their eating habits off an inaccurate understanding of dietary requirements,” Mr Lindhe said.