Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAOSTAT) about the
dietary intake of adults from Brazil (2017-2018), Mexico (2016) and Saint Kitts and
Nevis (2020) and analysing the findings against the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Nutrition and Physical Survey, 2023.
Odd combination of countries right?
Since WHO recommendations are specifically developed to provide dietary goals that can be reached world wide, and given that trends in consumption of fruit and vegetables are slow to change a comparison of daily intake from these countries from different years will offer valuable insight into, regardless of income, the factor that is effecting diets worldwide.
Country Profiles:
Australia has good health care, campaigns to improve awareness of health issues and enjoy for the most part access to a wide variety of fresh foods however our rates of chronic disease, specifically obesity is on the rise. In fact obesity rates are a global concern, with approximately 70% of those effected by obesity living in developing nations (Ahmed & Mohammed, 2025).
Brazil in 2014 implemented revolutionary dietary guidelines which focused on behaviours – such as being mindful of eating in an appropriate environment, with company where possible and refrain from doing any other activities while eating – enjoy your food, focus on whole foods and being mindful of where the food comes from (sustainable), make planning for preparing food and eating an important part of life, actively seek to improve or share cooking skills, be wary of food advertising and marketing (FAO, 2014) (Gabe, 2021). This makes it attainable for the general public – no need to calculate – just focus on balance and natural to minimally processed foods and consider the source of the food.
In 2014 the mexican government implemented a tax on sugary drinks (approximately 12%) and an 8% tax on foods with a calorie value greater than 275 per 100grams with the exemption of food staples such as beans, maize flour, sugar. This did not account for the preparation of foods at home with oils, salt and sugar so studies, even though they have seen a decrease in the purchasing of sugary drinks and packaged high calorie foods it has not decreased the caloric intake of the population (Aguilar, 2021) further to this they have implemented bans on the sale of junk food around the vicinity of schools as well as limitations as to their marketing and advertising. the dietary recommendation, like Brazil also focus on taking time to eat food with company, to avoid overeating and stop once satisfied and aim to include fruit and vegetables, cereals or legumes and animal protein at every meal (FAO, 2015).
Saint Kitts and Nevis – is located in the carribean – due to it’s vulnerability to climate and small land mass approx 60 – 80% of the islands food in imported. Providing the people with cheap highly processed foods. The island also boosts in growing at least 40 different types of mangoes – the abundance so, that at times they are given away for free (Yang et al. 2025) to combat the cost of importing foods both on an economic and health front the country is looking at reducing it’s dependence of imports by 25% by 2030 and focusing on producing their own foods as well as taxing sugary drinks
Australia’s food labelling standards in regarded amongst the best in the world and it does not impose taxes on fresh fruit and vegetables. However as other countries around the world turn to initiative policies to reduce the lure and hold that highly processed foods have on us australia is remained stagnant in it’s policies to address our poor diet and the factors contributing to our poor food choices. What can we learn from other countries
Fruit and Vegetables:
fruit and vegetables have enormous health benefits and are essential in a healthy diet to provide the vitamins, minerals, fibre, antioxidants as well as other essential nutrients needed by our bodies and they also reduce the risk of non communicable disease (WHO, 2023).
we all know we need to eat more fruit and vegetables and that it’s best to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables in type and colour- so how do australians fare against data available from other countries
During the ABS national health survey, 2022 approximately 44.1% of australians aged 18+ meet the recommendation for fruit intake and only 6.5% meet the recommendation for vegetable intake
Figure 3 – Source: FAOSTAT data sets and ABS National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, 2023.