Macronutrient and Mineral Dietary Risk Factors in Indigenous Australians Based on Secondary Data Analysis - Abstract
Chronic conditions are a major cause of the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Diet is a well-known risk factor for the chronic conditions in general and hence is of critical importance in Indigenous Australians, a group that suffer disproportionately from obesity, hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Limited evidence exists to relate dietary intake with chronic disease causation and prevention in Indigenous Australians. This study investigates dietary differences between various subsets of Indigenous Australians that may relate to observed disparities in chronic health conditions. To this end, macronutrient and mineral dietary differences were examined between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, including between remote
and urban Indigenous Australians, using data from the comprehensive Australian Health Survey (2011 - 13). Dietary intakes of macronutrients such as dietary fibre and cholesterol, and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium in Indigenous Australians are significantly different from non-Indigenous counterparts. The gap between recommended and actual dietary intakes starts early in life for Indigenous children, with the sodium diet-gap starting as early as 2 - 3 years of age, and gaps in dietary fibre, calcium, potassium and zinc emerging by the 4 - 8 years of age Indigenous cohort. Within Indigenous Australians, those living in remote report consumption of higher cholesterol but lower dietary fibre, calcium, and iodine, compared to Urban living. These results
broadly indicate that significant public health promotion and interventions be applied to adjust dietary intakes of some of these macronutrients and minerals to reduce disparities from chronic disease in these populations.