The Impact of Diet and Nutrition on Aboriginal and TSI People's Health

This report examines the diet and nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, highlighting the influence of factors like geography, socio-economic status, and environment on their health. It discusses the high prevalence of diet-related chronic diseases and mortality rates within these communities, emphasizing the role of food security, nutritional status, and access to nutritious foods. The report explores the impact of poverty, limited access to fresh produce, and reliance on high-calorie, low-cost foods. It further analyzes the significance of traditional foods, the effects of poor pregnancy outcomes and infant malnutrition, and the government's efforts to improve food security through national standards, nutrition education, and healthy feeding plans. The conclusion underscores the unique challenges faced by the indigenous population and the importance of addressing diet-related issues to improve health outcomes.

Diet and Nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander1
DIET AND NUTRITION OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE
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Diet and Nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander2
Introduction
The Australian indigenous population is composed of the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait
Islander people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are predisposed to diet-related
chronic diseases which are primarily influenced by factors like geographical, low socio-
economic status and environment factors. In effect, these factors do have a negative impact on
their food security, nutritional status, lifestyle habits and health behaviours.
The Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander people frequently suffer higher mortality
rates when compared to the rest of Australian non-indigenous population. Dietary factors singly
have a contributory factor of over three times in causation of disease burden when compared to
the non-Indigenous population. As a consequence, the mortality rate among the Aboriginals and
the Torres Straits islander people is recorded among the highest worldwide with their life
expectancy of ten years less compared to the rest of non-indigenous population in Australia. This
situation is significantly attributable to the limited awareness of nutrition and limited access to
nutritious foods (Leonard et al. 2017). A recent study by Aquino, Hadgraft, Thompson, Marley
(2017) reveals that a third of children who do not consume an adequate amount of fruits and
vegetables are malnourished as a result of undernutrition. The study also found that children who
consume high levels of sugar-containing foods develop malnutrition due to overnutrition and are
obese. Access to fresh fruits and vegetables is limited due to poverty as evidence suggests that
48% of the employed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were more likely to report

Diet and Nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander3
adequate fresh fruit intake as compared to 39% of the unemployed people which shows a link
between dietary behaviour and socio-economic status of the indigenous people. Indigenous
people experiencing poverty among the indigenous population are likely to maximize more on
high-calorie foods which come with low-cost option as opposed to healthy options like fresh
fruits, grains and vegetables (Thurber et al. 2017).
Further, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffer the burden of Food
insecurity which can largely be attributed to environmental, physical and economic factors
prevailing in their lives characterized by limited access to food supplies, inability to afford
quality foods and limited access to nutritional education. Traditional foods form the primary
source of nutrition among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people but in circumstances
where there is unavailability of traditional foods they rely on foods stored in community stores
(Temple & Russell, 2018). Traditionally Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were
hunters and gatherers who got their food from hunting wild animals and fruits. After
colonization, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people domesticated animals and grew
food crops from which they get their food. The combination of meat from animals such as goats
and the grown food crops the ATSI get a balanced diet. Children who have access to a balanced
diet thrive well and achieve their developmental milestones in time compared to children who
lack a balanced diet and fail to thrive. Animal meat provides proteins which are bodybuilding
foods, and plants offer starch which is energy giving foods, and therefore these children grow
healthy.
The type of foods and feeding habits by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is
significantly influenced by their belief that all food has a meaning according to their traditions.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people largely depend on traditional bush food with women

Diet and Nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander4
charged with the role of gathering garden foods like wild yams, cassava and yams while their
men are charged with hunting activities largely bringing home sea animals such as turtles,
dugong and kangaroo. Also, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's children are exposed
to food-gatherings practices in which they begin to learn the art of daily survival at an early age
when they are included in the daily routine of food gathering (Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (2018).
Poor pregnancy outcomes and infant malnutrition are common features that remain
higher among Aboriginal and Strait Islander peoples’ infants than their non-indigenous infant
population. Exclusive breastfeeding among the indigenous women is limited as most of the
infants are exposed to solid food during a period of vulnerability. As a consequence, the infants
are deprived of the high nutrients requirements which expose them to nutrient deficiencies and or
infections within the six months age of mandatory breastfeeding. According to Leonard, Aquino,
Hadgraft, Thompson, Marley (2017), infants born to indigenous women are often nutritionally
compromised as an inadequate nutrient-dense food and increased poor nutritional choices
increase with age. Further, as opposed to non-indigenous pregnant women, Aboriginal and Strait
Islander peoples' women engage in harmful smoking and drug abuse with evidence suggesting
that indigenous women smoke during more than half of the gestation approximately half of all
pregnancies.
The prevalence of poor nutrition marked by food insecurity, the Australian Government
through the National Strategy for Food Security in Remote Indigenous Communities has
undertaken various steps to improve the food security and to turn around poor health outcomes
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through by way of a multi-faceted approach.
Firstly, the Government establishes the national standards for food stores and takeaways meant

Diet and Nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander5
to serve the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In so doing, Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people will be able to access safe, quality and reliable modern food storage
facilities and equipment readily available at the national food stores (Pratt et al. 2014). Secondly,
in efforts to fill the nutrition education gap, the Government establishes the national healthy
feeding action plan of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. For the Government to
implement the national healthy feeding action plan, it has put in place public health nutritionist,
health clinics and schools to boost the accessibility of nutrition education among the indigenous
population(Pratt et al. 2014).
Conclusion
The upshot of the preceding discussion is that the indigenous population faces a myriad
of issues related to nutrition, health and socio-economic status which are unique to the fact of the
physical, historical and environmental factors. Food insecurity and poverty significantly
contribute to poor diet and dietary behaviours among the indigenous people.
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018). Australia’s mothers and babies 2016—in
brief. Perinatal statistics series no. 34. Cat. no. PER 97. Canberra: AIHW.
Leonard, D. , Aquino, D. , Hadgraft, N. , Thompson, F. and Marley, J. V. (2017), Poor nutrition
from first foods: A cross‐sectional study of complementary feeding of infants and young

Diet and Nutrition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander6
children in six remote Aboriginal communities across northern Australia. Nutr Diet, 74:
436-445. doi:10.1111/1747-0080.12386
Pratt, S., DeMamiel, M., Reye, K., Huey, A., Pope, A.. (2014). Food security in remote
Indigenous communities. Canberra: Australian National Audit Office.
Temple, J. B., & Russell, J. (2018). Food Insecurity among Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(8),
1766. doi:10.3390/ijerph15081766
Thurber, K. A., Banwell, C., Neeman, T., Dobbins, T., Pescud, M., Lovett, R., & Banks, E.
(2017). Understanding barriers to fruit and vegetable intake in the Australian
Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children: a mixed-methods approach. Public health
nutrition, 20(5), 832–847. doi:10.1017/S1368980016003013