Woolworths data reveals Aussies are moving away from healthy diets
April 7, 2023
The report also revealed that consumers are falling behind in other food groups areas, with grains, dairy, and meat all seeing a reduced amount of serves consumed per day by consumers compared to the 2022 figure.
“We found that Australians were not hitting the targets for the five core food groups when we compared them to Australian dietary guidelines,” HealthyLife chief health officer Simone Austin said.
Australians are only buying half of the recommended amount of greens needed for a healthy diet, with only 2.6 of the five daily servings of vegetables being purchased by shoppers.
Experts say the cost of living crisis could be at fault for consumers moving away from fresh veggies.
“When times are tough, we tend to shift away from clean and healthy alternatives to processed food which tends to be mass-produced and cheaper to purchase,” said Professor Gary Mortimer from QUT Business School.
As budgets tighten around the country, shoppers have even moved away from snack foods, with an 11 per cent decrease in purchases of sweets, sports drinks and other snacks.
Experts are urging shoppers to eat more greens, especially now that the prices of vegetables such as capsicums, cucumbers, beans, broccoli and cauliflower have all dropped significantly in price from last year’s peak.
Despite the “concerning” figures around vegetable consumption, shoppers seem to be paying attention to their eating habits in a different way.
Over 182,000 Aussies have signed up to HealthyLife’s free online food tracker tool, which helps shoppers distinguish how healthy their shopping carts are.
The biggest health-conscious switch consumers made was swapping white bread out with wholemeal options.