The nation’s diet is being called into question after a recent study by the CSIRO revealed that most Australians’ eating habits are below par.

The 2016 CSIRO Healthy Diet Score report, released today, documented the eating habits for more than 86,500 adults across Australia over a 12-month period.

An early snapshot of the survey results released in August 2015 awarded the nation’s diet a score of 61 on a 100-point scale.

With almost 47,000 additional surveys completed since then that figure now stands at just 59 out of 100, confirming that Australian diets are worse than first thought.

“We have an image of being fit and healthy, but with a collective diet score of 59/100 that image could be very different unless we act now,” CSIRO Research Director and co-author of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, Professor Manny Noakes said.

According to report, 80 per cent of respondents received an individual score below 70, which is a benchmark figure.

More than one-third of people in the study admitted to eating more than the maximum two-serves of junk food per day, which includes alcohol, cake and biscuits.

The report also shows that women had better nutritional levels than men while construction workers were among those with the poorest diets.

– TiVi Tuan-san