APPENDICES
107As with other population groups, it is important to encourage and support breastfeeding, to ensure that children
and adolescents receive sufficient nutritious food to grow and develop normally, and to ensure that the growth of
young children is checked regularly.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would benefit from:
• enjoying traditional foods whenever possible
• when choosing store foods, choosing those most like traditional bush foods, such as fresh plant foods,
wholegrain (cereal) foods, seafoods, and lean meats and poultry.
A4 Women
Women are particularly vulnerable to poverty, illiteracy, food insecurity and poor health.25,26,884 Single parent
families, of which 87% are headed by women in Australia, face higher risk of poverty and food security.1029,1030
Women are particularly subject to anaemia between puberty and menopause because of folate or iron deficiency,
and after menopause to osteoporosis and breast cancer. Pregnancy and lactation have an associated nutrition
risk due to increased nutrient requirements. Maternal nutritional status is a major determinant of foetal and infant
nutritional status.
A5 Infants and children
Children, particularly those under 5 years of age, are particularly susceptible to socioeconomic inequalities
that lead to marked differentials in health and nutrition. There is a clear association between the wealth of the
environment the child grows up in, including socioeconomic indicators such as maternal education, and family
income.^884 According to the 2005–06 New South Wales Population Health Survey, exclusive breastfeeding of
children at 6 months of age was significantly lower for infants with:^877
• mothers without tertiary qualifications (13%) compared with for those with tertiary qualifications (25%)
• mothers living in the lowest socioeconomic status areas (11%) compared with those in the highest
socioeconomic status areas (26%)
• mothers aged younger than 25 years (9%) compared with mothers aged 25 years and over (17%).
Further information is available in the Infant Feeding Guidelines.^351
A6 Older people
living alone, as many older adults do, has been associated with a poorer, less varied diet. Older people often rely
on pensions and have increasing difficulty with transport and communication, access to facilities, and preparation
of food. Ill health and poor dentition can also compromise nutritional status. As the population continues to age,
the demand for residential, respite and day-care services for older people has increased.
The Dietary Guidelines are not applicable to frail elderly people as reducing food components such as fat, salt and
sugar – which may make food more palatable — is not always appropriate in this group.
A7 People born overseas
Many migrants enjoy health that is as good as, if not better than, that of the Australian-born population.^24 This
could be partly because migrants are selected for their health status, or because, in some cases, they are less
likely to be exposed to risk factors for non-communicable disease before they arrive in Australia. However there
is a small proportion of the migrant population, such as refugees, who experience poorer health than other
Australians due to socioeconomic and political factors.^24
Mortality rates for people born overseas are generally lower than for people born in Australia, but the causes
of mortality differ depending on country of birth, with some migrants experiencing higher mortality rates for
particular conditions than Australian-born people. The prevalence of diet-related diseases also varies in different
migrant groups. For example, diabetes is more prevalent among those born in Germany, Greece, India, Italy,
lebanon and Poland, and coronary heart disease is more prevalent among those born in Poland.^24