DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines - Eat For Health

A7.4 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples
A7.4.1. Diet-related health outcomes
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia suffer significant health inequities
compared with the broader community. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people typically die
at much younger ages and are more likely to experience ill health, disability and reduced quality of
life [1020]. Poor nutrition is a major risk factor for many of the diseases with higher prevalence
among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and it has been estimated that 19% of the
national Indigenous burden of disease is attributable to poor diet [1024].
Socioeconomic disadvantage underlies many of these health statistics [1025]. Compared with non-
Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders report lower incomes, higher rates
of unemployment, lower educational attainment, more overcrowded and inadequate housing
[1026], higher rates of incarceration and limited access to transport [26]. Disrupted family and
community cohesion, social marginalisation, stress, lack of control over circumstances, and
discrimination and racism are also apparent [30, 1025].
Overweight and obesity are common [30, 855]. Measured anthropometric data for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders are unavailable, however less reliable self-reported data indicated that more
than half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were overweight
or obese [1027].
Under-nutrition among young children and relatively poor growth from around six months of age
persists in some parts of Australia [1028-1031].
Vitamin and mineral status has been measured infrequently in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
populations [30]. Multiple deficiencies have frequently been described in the same subject,
suggesting the generally poor nutritional status of such individuals, rather than a specific micronutrient
problem. In particular, vitamin status (in relation to folate, ascorbic acid and betacarotene)
consistent with low intakes of fruit and vegetables have often been described [8, 134].
More recently iodine deficiency in an Aboriginal birth cohort in the Northern Territory [1032]
and low vitamin D status in a South Australian Aboriginal population [1033] have been found.
A7.4.2 Food intake, diet and nutritional status
All the available evidence suggests that, traditionally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were fit
and healthy. The traditional diet appears to have been low in energy density but high in nutrient
density—high in protein, low in sugars, high in complex carbohydrate, and high in micro-nutrients.
Energy expenditure appears to have been high [30, 1034-1038].
DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines- December 2011 185