Economic modelling of the impact of increased vegetable intake on health costs and grower returns (VG15031)

What was it all about?

This project modelled the impact of increased vegetable consumption on government health expenditure and producer returns, with its findings providing a clear economic rationale for investment in initiatives to increase vegetable consumption in Australia.

Key findings included that:

• If Australians ate 10 per cent more vegetables per day, all levels of government could reap $100 million per year combined in health savings
• If Australians ate 10 per cent more vegetables per day, vegetable growers would be supported with an estimated $23 million per year in additional profit
• More than 90 per cent of Australians fail to eat the recommended intake of vegetables per day, representing a large opportunity to increase vegetable intake. Currently the average Australian eats 2.3 serves of vegetables a day, short of the recommend five serves or 375g.

In regard to vegetable consumption, the project found that:

• Men eat fewer vegetables than women, with 3.8 per cent of males consuming adequate vegetables compared to 10.2 per cent of females
• Australia ranks 63rd in the world by apparent consumption of vegetables per capita
• Tasmanians are Australia’s highest vegetable consumers, but still only 12 per cent of the local population are consuming the recommended daily intake
• Vegetable consumption generally increases with age, peaking among 75 to 84-year-olds
• ‘Fruiting vegetables’ such as corn and pumpkin are the top vegetables consumed by Australians (excluding potatoes).