Fruit does not factor on the menus of one in three teenagers, while 90% say they eat vegetables, but only consume an average of 54 grams a day, according to the researchers.
Since 1990, the prevalence of weight problems and obesity among teenage boys has more than tripled, from 6% to 19%, while it has risen from a higher base of 15% to 17% among girls. The rate of obesity has increased from 1% to 8% among men, and from 3% to 6% among girls.
At the launch of the survey results, Professor Michael Gibney, from the Institute of Food and Health at University College Dublin, stressed four out of five teenagers were within normal weight guidelines.
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However, he claimed the Government's Obesity Taskforce had failed to sufficiently move on tackling the problem.
"Nothing has happened as far as I am concerned, and that is the reality," Prof Gibney said.
The Chief Executive of the Irish Heart Foundation, Michael O’Shea, supported by the National Heart Alliance, calls for immediate action at Government level to protect children and young people from the marketing of unhealthy foods as one important step in the fight against increasing levels of obesity.
Mr O’Shea said: “With one in five Irish adolescents and children now overweight or obese, we are already seeing increasing levels of diabetes and a real possibility of increasing levels of heart disease at a younger age resulting in a wide range of social, economic and healthcare problems. Faced with the scale of this public health problem - doing nothing is not an option.”
Given that marketing of unhealthy foods has been shown to influence young people’s food choices, both the Irish Heart Foundation and National Heart Alliance (NHA) have already called for a national policy on the marketing of unhealthy foods to children, including a ban on TV advertising which is the most significant advertising medium used to advertise foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
Mr O’Shea concluded: “Such a move should be supported by parallel measures to regulate marketing across all media, such as the internet and magazines and there is an urgent need to address the marketing and promotional practices in schools.”
Also in the study, funded by the Agriculture Department and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), Dr Janette Walton from UCC revealed half of their intake of potatoes was in the form of chips.
Almost 96% opted for white bread, consuming an average 63g perday compared with 20g per day of wholemeal or brown bread.
Jennifer O'Neill of UCD warned that parents' weight had proved a risk factor, as around 84% of mothers and 92% of fathers of obese teenage offspring were also overweight or obese themselves.
One-third of parents of obese teens believed their teenagers' weight was fine.
When it came to exercise, around 41% travelled by car to school and 29% walked.
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