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Increasing healthy eating and active living

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Healthy eating

Many Victorians do not consume enough of the foods and drinks needed for good health and consume too much food and drink that is high in energy, saturated fat, added sugar, salt or alcohol. This has coincided with an increase in obesity and contributed to chronic disease rates and poor mental health (Victorian Government, 2019)  

Australian Dietary Guidelines (National Health and Medical Research Council 2013) recommend adults eat 5 to 6 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit per day. 

Less than one in 20 adults in Boroondara and metropolitan Melbourne met the guidelines for both fruit and vegetable consumption according to the 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey (Figure 1). 

Fruit consumption guidelines are much more likely to be met than vegetable consumption guidelines. In fact, adults in Boroondara ate on average 2.4 serves of fruit (more than the minimum recommendation) but only 1.7 serves of vegetables. This is less than half the recommended amount of vegetables. 

Column chart which shows the proportion of Boroondara and metropolitan Melbourne residents (18+) who met fruit or vegetable consumption guidelines in the 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey. Fruit consumption guidelines were met by 47.8% of Boroondara residents and 43.5% of metro Melbourne residents. Vegetable consumption guidelines were met by 8% of Boroondara and 5.1% of metro Melbourne residents. Both guidelines were met by 4.9% of Boroondara residents and 3.3% of metro Melbourne residents. Neither g

Figure 1: In 2017, almost half of Boroondara adults were not meeting either fruit or vegetable consumption guidelines. Data source: 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey, presented by Victorian Health Information Surveillance System 2022.
 

The 2017 result represents a small increase in healthy eating in Boroondara compared with the findings of the 2014 Victorian Population Health Survey, but the change is not statistically significant and therefore not strong evidence of improvement.

Active living

As well as helping to prevent chronic disease, physical activity promotes mental wellbeing and social connection, increases productivity and can lead to positive changes to the environments we live and play in. (VicHealth 2023) 

The 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey included questions about time spent on a variety of physical activities (for example walking, vigorous household chores and keep-fit exercises). Based on their answers, respondents are categorised as:

  • sedentary
  • doing insufficient exercise (less than 150 minutes and/or fewer than 2 sessions per week)
  • doing sufficient exercise (at least 150 minutes and at least 2 sessions per week).

Most Boroondara adults (18 years and over) did sufficient exercise, a higher proportion than metropolitan Melbourne overall (Figure 2). 

Column chart which shows the proportion of Boroondara and metropolitan Melbourne residents (18+) who in the 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey met physical activity guidelines. Not enough exercise was done by 38.5% of Boroondara residents and 44.7% of metro Melbourne residents. Sufficient exercise was done by 57.5% of Boroondara and 50% of metro Melbourne residents. Finally, 2.8% of metro Melbourne residents were sedentary and the sample of Boroondara residents was too small to generate a reliable esti

Figure 2: Most Boroondara adults do sufficient exercise, but more than one in 3 don't. Data source: 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey, presented by Victorian Health Information Surveillance System 2022. Note: category values do not sum to 100% because 'No response' data is not shown in the chart.

Boroondara residents are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than their metropolitan Melbourne counterparts, but they are also more likely to sit for 7 or more hours during an average weekday, according to the 2017 Victorian Population Health Survey (33.3% compared to 27.7% for metropolitan Melbourne). 

This may be linked to the occupational profile of Boroondara residents. At the 2021 Census, 9.1% of employed Boroondara residents were technicians and trades workers or labourers compared to 19.9% of employed residents across metropolitan Melbourne. 

The built environment can influence physical activity levels (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2022) and according to the Australian Urban Observatory, Boroondara is among the top 27% of Melbourne Local Government Areas in terms of walkability for transport, which they measure based on: 

  • land use mix and services of daily living (something to walk to)
  • street connectivity (a way to get there) 
  • dwelling density. 

Overweight and obesity

Being physically active and having a healthy diet reduces risk factors for disease such as overweight and obesity (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017), a leading cause of preventable illness (Victorian Government, 2019). 

The 2020 Victorian Population Health Survey suggests that more than 40% of Boroondara adults are overweight or obese, but they are less likely to be obese than the metropolitan Melbourne average (Figure 3).

Column chart which shows 31.1% of Boroondara adults are overweight and 11.4% are obese, based on self-reported BMI. By comparison, 30% of metropolitan Melbourne adults are overweight and 18.9% are obese.

Figure 3: More than 40% of Boroondara adults are overweight or obese.

Children and young people 

Healthy eating and physical activity are important for children and young people, and childhood and adolescence are stages where good habits can be formed for adulthood. (Due et al 2011, cited in Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2021)

The Victorian Population Health Survey, the source of most data presented on this page, does not capture information from people under 18 years of age. The Victorian Government’s Victorian Child and Adolescent Monitoring System portal presents data relating to children and young people and key health outcomes, including healthy eating, physical activity and overweight and obesity.

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