Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in remote Australian areas are getting 41% of their daily energy intake from sugary foods, such as soft drink, alcohol, cakes and confectionery, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
The latest data from 2013 shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults consumed an average of 2.1 serves of vegetables per day, which is less than half the five or six serves recommended by nutritional guidelines.
They ate an average 30% less vegetables than non-Indigenous people and just one serve of fruit on average, half the recommended amount.
In remote areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consumed less than one serve of fruit and less than one serve of dairy per day, while those living in urban areas consumed 1.3 serves of each.
However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote areas consumed around half a serve more of grain foods and lean meats than people living in urban areas.
An associate professor of Indigenous health at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Aunty Kerrie Doyle, described the substandard diet of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as “a function of poverty”.
“People don’t choose this,” she said. “They don’t wake up and say, ‘I’ll be unhealthy and fat today’. We haven’t made any great leaps forward in the high price of fruit and vegetables in remote and rural areas. When you live in poverty, you buy the cheapest foods.
“I ran a nutrition program once and one of the woman said, ‘Do you realise how hard my life is? If I want a piece of cake, I’m going to eat a piece of cake’.”
Doyle said Indigenous people also suffered higher rates of dental diseases than non-Indigenous Australians and that low availability of dental services in some areas combined with the expense of treatments had exacerbated this.
“I have come across many who can’t eat an apple because of their dental issues,” Doyle said.
“When you think about a lot of the discretionary foods, they’re soft and easier to eat. You can’t blame Indigenous people for their diets when all they’re doing is the best they can.”
The social determinants of health, including housing, social inclusion and food insecurity, all needed to be addressed to improve the overall health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Just educating people and telling them to eat foods that may not even be available to them isn’t going to work,” she said.
