FACTS AND FIGURES

• The major causes of death, illness and disability in which diet and nutrition play an important role include coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, atherosclerosis, some forms of cancer, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, dental caries, gall bladder disease and nutritional anaemias.

• The 1995 National Nutrition Survey indicates that: more than 90% of Australians consume foods from the ‘cereal and grains’ and ‘milk product’ food groups; over half the males aged 12-44 years and approximately one-third of children aged 4-11 years had not eaten fruit on the day before the interview; total fat (including saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) accounts for about 33% of the total energy intake of Australian adults; saturated fat accounts for around 13% of total energy intake of Australian adults.

• The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating aims to encourage the consumption of a variety of foods from each of the five food groups every day in proportions that are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Australians. The five foods groups are: bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles; vegetables, legumes; fruit; milk, yogurt, cheese; meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, legumes.

• Most Australians have access to a wide variety of nutritious foods and enough money to buy them. As a result, we typically enjoy a fairly good standard of nutritional health, but some of us are less fortunate. The health of Australians living in rural areas is poorer than that of people in the cities. Also, rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples often face greater nutritional challenges than those of other Australians. People in remote areas can pay up to half as much again for basic healthy foods than people living in urban and metropolitan areas. Some reasons for this include higher costs of transport, higher store overheads and greater spoilage of foods.

• The nutritional needs of the human body change at different life stages. To be fit and healthy, it is important to take into account the extra demands placed on your body by these changes.

• One reason to watch your fat intake is that fat is fattening. Gram for gram, it contains more than twice as much energy – kilojoules – than either protein or carbohydrates. So of all the food types, fat has the greatest potential not to be fully burned up and therefore to increase our body fat.

• For every 10kg of extra body fat, there are some 29km of extra blood vessels through which blood must be pumped. That’s a big load on our hearts. Extra body fat also increases wear and tear on our joints and can increase our odds of gallstones, diabetes and high blood pressure. What’s more, certain foods high in fat can harm our hearts in other ways. They encourage our liver to make more cholesterol, which chokes our arteries, causing heart attacks and strokes.

• Some fats are inherently more harmful to our health than others. Saturated fats – found in a wide range of foods including fatty meats, full cream dairy products, pastries and cakes – raise our risk of heart attacks and strokes by increasing blood cholesterol levels. Trans fats are even more potent than saturated fats in raising bad blood cholesterol. Found in many snack foods, processed foods, commercially prepared fried foods and some margarines, these man-made fats are produced by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen (a process known as hydrogenation). Unsaturated fats, on the other hand, are ‘good’ fats and can actually help unclog blood vessels blocked by cholesterol. They include the mono-unsaturates found in olive oil, canola, and avocados, and two types of polyunsaturated fats: omega-6 (including safflower and sunflower oils) and omega-3 (found in fish, some plants such as spinach, nuts and seeds). Most Western diets are lower in omega-3 than omega-6, so focusing on boosting omega-3 fats is especially important.

• Spend around 60% of your food budget on foods from the “eat most” group, 30% on the “eat moderately” group, and very little (no more than 10%) on foods in the “eat in small amounts” group. This will guarantee good nutritional value for money.

• There are good reasons for the use of food additives. They can be used to: improve the keeping quality or stability of a food; preserve food when this is the most practical way of extending its storage life; improve the taste or appearance of a processed food.

• Use the nutrition information label (also called a nutrition information panel), which can be found on the packaging of almost all manufactured foods, to help you make more informed choices about the food that you eat.

• Food poisoning is a serious health problem. It can cause severe illness and even death. Food poisoning is frequently caused by bacteria from food that has been poorly handled, stored or cooked.

• Symptoms of food poisoning can include nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhoea, fever, and headaches. Symptoms can occur within 30 minutes after eating, or a number of hours later. They can be mild or severe.

• Some ways of preventing food poisoning are: good personal hygiene; avoid cross-contamination; cook foods thoroughly; avoid the Temperature Danger Zone; avoid spoiled foods; when in doubt, throw it out.

• Food poisoning bacteria grows best when food is kept within the ‘danger zone’, that is, between 4°C-60°C. Food should be stored and cooked as instructed by the manufacturer’s label. Avoid cross-contamination – use separate utensils for raw meat and other foods.