Nearly three-quarters of young people in Ireland eat sweets or chocolate at least once a day, new research shows.
However, only three out of five respondents to a survey said they ate cooked vegetables once a day. Nearly 60 per cent said they ate fresh fruit once or more each day, and the same number said they had sugary fizzy drinks at least once a day.
Nearly 41 per cent of those surveyed in the "Young People and Food: Adolescent Dietary Beliefs and Understanding Study" said they hardly ever, or never, ate raw vegetables and salad.
The research was carried out by Dr Karen Trew of Queen's University Belfast for an all-Ireland body, Safefood, the Food Safety Promotion Board. The survey involved 5,000 young people aged between 12-17 years from 80 schools across the island of Ireland. It found young people both in the Republic and Northern Ireland equated healthy eating with dieting and weight loss. The research also showed that young people were well informed about the long-term dangers of a junk food diet.
"Yet they prefer chips, chocolate and crisps as their favourite food," a report on the research said. The survey also concluded that many young people were not eating the recommended level of fruit and vegetables.
"Less than half of all girls in the 12-to-14-year category reported that they ate fruit and vegetables at least once a day and fruit was even less popular among the 15-to-17-year-olds," it found.
"However, despite a good knowledge of healthy foods, healthy eating and the risks of unhealthy eating, most young people claim to practise unhealthy habits. In fact, many suggested that if they, rather than their parents, were in control of the shopping/meal preparation, their diet would be less healthy," said the report.
It said the youngsters described junkfood as tasty, while vegetables were consistently described as having no taste at all by all groups.
Adolescents clearly lacked an understanding of the ability to include all types of foodstuffs as part of a healthy balanced diet, the report said.