Teenagers also consume relatively a lot of unhealthy snacks and little fruit. For example, 86 percent of this age group indicated that they did not consume the recommended two pieces of fruit each day.
This is proven by joint research by CBS, RIVM and the Nutrition Center which translated the consensus of nutrition scientists in the Netherlands into practical tips.
The researchers asked Dutch people questions about what they ate and drank and summarized them in the form of a score. The higher the score, the more food choices are in line with the Nutrition Center’s recommendations. The lowest score is 0, the highest is 10.
Age plays an important role in food choices. For example, toddlers received a ‘report score’ of 7.1, partly because they scored high on fruit and vegetable consumption. Children in primary school still consume quite a lot of fruit and vegetables, but in secondary school the average score drops to 5.9.
Difficult target group
Teenagers are a difficult target group in terms of healthy nutrition, one of the reasons is the lack of control by parents and schools over what they eat.
“Under peer pressure, they go to the supermarket during school breaks to buy frikandel sandwiches and energy drinks,” Liesbeth Velema, nutrition and behavior expert at the Nutrition Center, previously said. de Volkskrant. ‘Interviews with teenagers show that they are less interested in healthy food. They don’t see the need for it. This only happens later, when they start exercising more and appearance becomes more important.’
From the age of 18, young people are making healthier choices, according to new research. And this positive trend usually continues later in life. People over 65 received the highest score of all age groups regarding their food choices: 7.5.
Women eat healthier
What is also surprising is that women generally eat healthier than men. For example, women eat more fruit and vegetables and reduce their consumption of alcohol and sugary drinks.
Education level is also often associated with dietary choices; people over 25 years old with a college or university diploma on average have relatively healthier diets than their peers with a different diploma. In the alcohol consumption component, Dutch people with different levels of education have quite comparable scores.
The Nutrition Center’s advice is ‘it is best not to drink alcohol, instead a maximum of one drink per day’. Of those interviewed who were college or university graduates, 65 percent indicated that they regularly drank more than one drink of alcohol per day.
