Diet and physical activity practices of South Australian adolescents

Adequate nutrition and physical activity are integral to health across the life course, with adolescence a crucial time for establishing health behaviours. This report describes self-reported dietary and physical activity behaviours of South Australian adolescents aged 12–17 years (N = 1324) surveyed in 2017. Healthy lifestyle behaviour engagement was low, with most (90.3%) adolescents not meeting Australia's recommended dietary or physical activity guidelines. Almost three-quarters (73.8%) of adolescents consumed the recommended daily amount of fruit. However, only 10.8% of adolescents met the recommended daily intake of vegetables, and large proportions regularly consumed unhealthy snacks (64.5%), fast foods, (30.7%) and sugary drinks (65.8%). Combined with the low adherence to physical activity guidelines, these findings highlight the need for effective targeted health promotion campaigns to improve adolescent's public health outcomes in South Australia.