DAILY INTAKE OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommends that adults eat a minimum of 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables a day to ensure good nutrition and health.

Data source and definitions Usual daily intake of fruit and vegetables in the Australian Health Survey is based on self-reported data for the number of serves of fruit and vegetables that people usually ate each day. A serve of vegetables was defined as half a cup of cooked vegetables, one medium potato or one cup of salad vegetables (approximately 75 grams). Tomatoes were included as a vegetable rather than a fruit, and legumes were excluded. A serve of fruit was defined as one medium piece or two small pieces of fresh fruit, one cup of diced fruit, a quarter of a cup of sultanas, or four dried apricot halves (approximately 150 grams of fresh fruit or 50 grams of dried fruit). Fruit juices were not considered to be fruit. More detailed information on the consumption of fruit and vegetables based on 2 separate days of dietary recall will be available upon release of results from the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey in 2013.

In 2011-12, 48.3% of Australians aged 18 years and over reported that they usually met the guideline for daily fruit intake, while 8.3% met the guideline for daily vegetable intake.

Taking both guidelines into account, only 5.6% of Australian adults had an adequate usual daily intake of fruit and vegetables. Women were more likely to meet both guidelines than men (6.6% and 4.5% respectively).

In general, older Australians were more likely to meet the guidelines than younger adults, with 9.6% of persons aged 65-74 years consuming the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables, compared with 3.0% of persons aged 25-34 years.

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