Many junk food portion sizes rising

When comparing data from 1995 to 2012, The George Institute for Global Health researchers found portion sizes for a large proportion of Australia’s most commonly consumed junk foods had risen significantly.

For cake and pizza the average number of kilojoules consumed in one sitting rose 66%. While the increases weren’t as large as this typical servings of sausage, cereal bar, processed meat, ice-cream and wine also increased in size. However, the portion sizes of pastries, snack foods (potato crisps, popcorn, corn chips) and potato fries has actually decreased.

The team examined data from two different Australia-wide surveys — the 1995 National Nutrition Survey and the 2011–2012 National Nutrition Physical Activity Survey. Participants were asked to record everything they had eaten in a 24-hour period and were given photos and measuring guides to help them assess the size of their portions accurately.

Data was also recorded by age and sex. Researchers found serves of ice-cream eaten by women had increased in size by nearly a third.

The study has been published in the journal Nutrients.