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Aussie bloaters gorging on junk food 'each and every day'

Antipodean nosh boffins despair of the Oz's increasingly awful diet

Australians have been warned to get their dietary act together, after a survey revealed a growing and alarming trend for junk food excess.

According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 40,000+ respondents to its Healthy Diet Score Survey – "a scientifically validated survey which assesses people’s diet quality against the Australian Dietary Guidelines" – scored an average 61 out of 100.

"Discretionary food, or junk food, intake was found to be three-times higher than the recommended daily limit," CSIRO notes.

Professor Manny Noakes, the centre's Research Director for Nutrition and Health, frowned: "The scores were fairly unflattering across all respondents. If we were handing out report cards for diet quality, Australia would only get a C."

He added: "What we’re finding is people are having larger portions of junk food, and more often this type of food is no longer just an indulgence, its become mainstream and Australians are eating it each and every day."

The offending nosh is classified as "foods and drinks that are high in sugar, saturated fats and/or alcohol and low in essential nutrients". These include chocolate, of which Australians "eat the equivalent of 32kg" per year.

Professor Noakes, demonstrating that he has at least a nodding acquaintance with the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious, advised: "In order to improve your diet quality, people need to cut back on the consumption of junk food, and start to focus on eating smaller portions." ®

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