Aussies eating 32 kg of chocolate per year!

Australians have scored a measly 61% on our diet report card, and the CSIRO thinks we need to try harder!

Our addiction to junk food is largely to blame, according to findings from the CSIRO Healthy Diet Score Survey, which rated the national diet 61 on a 100-point scale when assessed against the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

Junk food intake was found to be three times higher than the recommended daily limit, as we gorge our way through a staggering 32 kg of chocolate each year — that’s the equivalent of three 200 g family blocks of chocolate every week.

More than 40,000 people took part in the survey, which evaluated a person’s diet based on variety, frequency and quantity of the essential food groups as well as individual attributes such as age and gender.

According to Professor Manny Noakes, CSIRO Research Director for Nutrition and Health and the co-author of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, the results were concerning.

“The scores were fairly unflattering across all respondents,” Professor Noakes said.

“While many people scored highly in categories such as water intake and the variety of foods consumed, there is certainly lots of room for improvement in other areas.”

Professor Noakes said the findings indicated Australians were consuming larger portions of junk food, and that such food was becoming mainstream, with many Australians eating it each and every day.

To check your diet score, you can access the CSIRO Healthy Diet Score at www.csirodietscore.com.