Statistics compiled by Eurostat have revealed that only 51 per cent of the Maltese population eat vegetables on a daily basis, placing Malta amongst the lowest countries in terms of vegetable consumption and well below the European Union average.
Ireland and Belgium topped the list, with 84 per cent of their populations reporting that they eat vegetables every day, followed by Italy (80 per cent), Portugal (78 per cent), Luxembourg (74 per cent) and Sweden (72 per cent).
At the other end of the spectrum, a meagre 30 per cent of Hungarians said that they eat vegetables daily, followed by Romania (41 per cent), Latvia (44 per cent), Lithuania (45 per cent) and Malta (51 per cent).
In stark contrast, however, Malta registered strong numbers when it came to the consumption of fruit, with 70 per cent of the population eating fruit daily – the sixth highest in the EU.
Italy once again registered high numbers, with 85 per cent reporting that they eat fruit every day, followed by Portugal (81 per cent), Spain (77 per cent) and Ireland (74 per cent). In contrast, in three member states only 40 per cent of the population ate fruit on a daily basis, these being Latvia (35 per cent), Bulgaria and Lithuania (both 37 per cent).
The EU average stood at 64 per cent for daily consumption of both vegetables and fruit, although Estonia, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic were excluded from the study due to unreliable information and statistics.
The results found that around one in four people (27 per cent) of the EU population ate fruit at least twice a day while a further 37 per cent ate fruit once a day. The remaining 36 per cent either ate fruit less frequently or not at all during a typical week.
Compared with fruit consumption, a slightly smaller proportion (23 per cent) of the EU population ate vegetables at least twice a day, and a slightly higher proportion (40 per cent) ate vegetables once a day.
Fruit and vegetables are at the bottom of the food pyramid, meaning that people should eat more of these than any other type of food. While the fruit consumption percentage is above average, the comparatively low number of people who eat vegetables daily may point to another reason why Malta continually registers high obesity rates.
A study published last September by the World Health Organisation found that almost a third of the Maltese population (29.8 per cent) is obese, putting the country only second to Turkey in terms of obesity rates.
Furthermore, the World Health Organisation found that there were higher rates of obesity in Maltese children and adolescents. Whilst the rate of obesity for the whole population was found to be 29.8 per cent, the rate of obesity for 11 year- olds was 38 per cent for boys and 32 per cent for girls. The rate reduces slightly as the age surveyed increases. The report calculated the Body Mass Index of 13-year-olds and 15-year-olds and found that, in the former category, 36 per cent of boys and 33 per cent of girls were obese, while in the latter category, 34 per cent of boys and 26 per cent of girls were obese.