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SYDNEY - Almost all Australians are either eating poorly or exercising inadequately, while only five per cent meet national lifestyle guidelines, a new report shows.
The landmark study of more than 16,000 Australians has painted a grim picture of a slothful, unhealthy nation falling short of its own recommendations for exercise and nutrition.
One in four - 25 per cent - meet physical activity guidelines, while 55 per cent eat enough fruit and 15 per cent eat enough vegetables.
But an alarmingly small number - fewer than five per cent - met the criteria for all three guidelines, a statistic the University of Sydney and Deakin University researchers say is "extremely concerning".
Men had poorer rates than women, as did overweight and obese people.
"These guidelines have been set specifically to help Australians prevent cardiovascular problems and other diseases, and to stay healthy overall, but very few seems to be meeting them all," said Dr Evan Atlantis of the University of Sydney's Department of Exercise and Sports Science .
This has a direct effect on Australia's growing obesity epidemic, he said.
"Consuming the wrong food and and not expending enough energy is a recipe for obesity, and that's what we're doing to ourselves."
National guidelines recommend two-and-a-half hours of moderate intensity exercise a week as well as two half-cup servings of fruit and five half-cup servings of vegetables a day.
Dr Atlantis said most people were fulfilling one of these, but did not seem to understand the importance of combining them.
"You need to be doing them all. Maybe we in the scientific community have failed to communicate that."
The low overall rate was mainly due to the extremely low vegetable intake.
Leading nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton said vegetables seemed to have lost their place in the daily diet.
"The evening meal of meat and veg has given way to a slice of pizza, some instant noodles, a bar eaten in the car on the way to a meeting," Dr Stanton said.
"The vegetables have disappeared at home, they're hard find in takeaway food and if you go to a restaurant you've got to order them separately and pay extra."
Studies have linked vegetable intake to lower rates of a myriad of diseases, including cancer, diabetes and obesity.
"The fact that people aren't eating the necessary amount translates directly to disease risk," Dr Stanton said.
The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, used results from the Australian National Health Survey 2004-5.
The researchers have called for federal government investment of $200 million a year on comprehensive evidence-based public health programs targeting low physical activity and poor nutrition behaviour.
- AAP
