Dietary risk factors

In total, 12 dietary risk factors were included in the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018. Each dietary risk was assessed independently and included dietary components where adequate amounts in the diet are required to prevent disease, as well diets where excessive consumption contributes to disease development. Information on the recommended dietary intake as part of Australian Dietary Guidelines can be found at the Eat for Health website.

All dietary risks combined

All dietary risks were responsible for 6.2% of burden of disease among Indigenous Australians in 2018, making it the 5th leading risk factor contributing to total disease burden.

Due to the complex relationships and interactions between risk factors, the individual dietary risks cannot be summed together. To overcome this issue a combined dietary estimate was calculated, referred to as ‘all dietary risks’. These estimates reflect the amount of burden that could have been avoided if all Indigenous Australians ate a healthy diet (see ABDS 2018 Risk factor estimates for Indigenous Australians data table S1).

Individual dietary risks

The dietary risks included were a diet low in: fruit, vegetables, milk, nuts & seeds, whole grains & high fibre cereals, legumes, polyunsaturated fat and fish & seafood, as well as a diet high in: sodium, sugar sweetened beverages, red meat and processed meat.

Diet low in legumes was the leading dietary risk, contributing to 1.5% of the total burden among Indigenous Australians in 2018. This was followed by diet high in sodium (1.3% of total burden in 2018).

This interactive data visualisation shows the burden attributable to dietary risks among Indigenous Australians by type of dietary risk. The main section shows a horizontal bar graph which can be customised to report data according to year, sex and measure of attributable burden. Each bar represents the attributable burden due to a particular type of dietary risk.

How much disease burden does each dietary risk factor cause?

In 2018 among Indigenous Australians, all dietary risks combined contributed 67% of coronary heart disease total burden, 37% of stroke burden, 32% of bowel cancer burden, and 31% of type 2 diabetes burden.

The combination of dietary risks were linked to 16 diseases. Note that the following visualisation displays the top 10 linked diseases due to dietary risks by selected measure (see ABDS 2018 Risk factor estimates for Indigenous Australians data table S1).

This interactive data visualisation shows the burden attributable to dietary risks among Indigenous Australians by linked disease. The main section shows a horizontal bar graph which can be customised to report data according to year, sex, type of dietary risk and measure of attributable burden. Each bar represents the attributable burden of the disease linked to the type of dietary risk.

How did burden attributable to dietary risks vary by age and sex?

Total burden due to all dietary risks among Indigenous Australians increased with age from age 25, peaking among those aged 45–54, and gradually decreasing up until those aged 75 and over. The total burden due to all dietary risks was lowest among those aged 75 and over.

Males experienced a greater amount of disease burden due to all dietary risks than females in all ages.

This interactive data visualisation shows the amount of burden attributable to dietary risks among Indigenous Australians by age group and linked disease. The main section shows a stacked bar graph which can be customised to report data according to year, sex, disease group and measure of attributable burden. Each bar represents the attributable burden within a particular age group. Each bar is also split into separate components with each colour representing a disease linked to dietary risks.

How has disease burden due to dietary risk factors changed over time?

The age-standardised rate of total burden due to all dietary risks (from all linked diseases) among Indigenous Australians decreased by 39% between 2003 and 2018 (from 49.4 DALY to 30.2 DALY per 1,000 population).

This interactive data visualisation shows the rate of burden attributable to dietary risks among Indigenous Australians by year. The main section shows a horizontal bar graph which can be customised to report data according to year, sex and measure of attributable burden. Each bar represents the attributable burden within a particular year due to dietary risks.

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