Food and nutrition

• Average daily consumption of food and beverages was 3.2 kg per person
• One-third (31.3%) of energy intake came from discretionary foods, down from 35.4% in 2011–12
• Free sugars made up 8.2% of energy intake, within the WHO recommendation
• Daily sodium intake was just under 2,400 mg, which is around one teaspoon of salt

• One in three (33.6%) people took a dietary supplement in 2023
• Vitamin and/or mineral supplements (29.7%) were the most common type of supplement taken
• Adult females were more likely than adult males to take a dietary supplement (43.7% compared to 30.8%)

• Three in ten (28.9%) people consumed sweetened beverages in 2023
• Almost one in four (23.8%) people consumed soft drinks and flavoured mineral waters
• One quarter (25.4%) of all free sugars consumed were from sweetened beverages

• Over one in eight (13.2% or 1.3 million) households experienced food insecurity in 2023
• Lone parent family households with dependent children (34.0%) and group households (27.8%) were the most likely households to experience food insecurity

Information on food and nutrients, diet, food security, sweetened beverages, physical activity, inactivity, and sleep in Australia

• One in four (24.9%) people were following a diet or eating pattern in 2023
• Food avoidance (37.9%), energy restriction (30.5%) and single nutrient reduced (e.g. low carb) (24.0%) diets were the most common types of diet or eating pattern
• One in twenty (5.3%) people were vegetarian or vegan

• Consumption of meat and poultry products increased by 2.3% in 2023-24
• Total dietary energy averaged 8,667 kJ per capita per day, similar to the level in 2022-23 (8,673 kJ)
• Discretionary foods contributed 38.5% of total dietary energy available, similar to 2022-23 (38.7%)

• Adults and children had similar rates of meeting both fruit and vegetable recommendations (4.2% and 4.3%)
• More than four in ten (44.1%) adults met the fruit recommendation and more than six in ten (63.9%) children met the fruit recommendation

State and territory breakdown of average intakes of foods, nutrients and proportion of nutrients from food groups

Provides a distributional analysis of usual nutrient consumption enabling population assessment of intakes against the Nutrient Reference Values

Presents information on selected biomarkers for nutrition, including iodine, folate, Vitamin B12 and iron