1. PROMOTING HEALTHY EATING
Key Knowledge 3.2.5
The role of the Australian Government in promoting healthy eating,
through:
•The information provided by nutrition surveys and how it is used
•The purpose of Nutrient Reference Values to guide dietary intake
•The Australian Guide to Health Eating and the Dietary Guidelines
•Legislation developed by Food Standards Australia and
New Zealand (FSANZ)

2. WHY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT HAS A
ROLE IN PROMOTING HEALTH EATING
 Major role in making Australia a healthier nation – promoting health
eating is a preventative measure for future health of Australians
(reducing the prevalence of diet-related diseases, especially in
vulnerable groups i.e. Indigenous Australians)
 Decrease the financial burden of healthcare costs -This will reduce
both direct and indirect costs associated with nutrition related
illnesses/diseases (NHPAs)
 Improve the health and well-being of population groups, especially
the nutritional status of vulnerable groups (indigenous Australians,
Rural & Remote, low SES Australians)
 Educating and providing accurate information regarding health
issues – individuals can make informed decisions

3. ROLE OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT IN
PROMOTING HEALTHY EATING:
Governments have a key role in educating and
informing the community about healthy eating and nutrition
How Do Governments Promote healthy eating?
 Provision of policy related to healthy eating practises
 Programs and health promotion initiatives - educate
 Research/Nutrition Surveys – collection of data
 Development and publication of strategies/guidelines and
resources – i.e. NRV, Dietary Guidelines & The Australian
Guide to Healthy Eating to improve the health status of
Australians (educate)
 Regulating food through legislation in order to ensure a safe
and quality-controlled food supply – food labelling laws

4. FOOD CONSUMPTION & NUTRITION SURVEYS
 Aim of food consumption surveys is to monitor and
assess food consumption and related behaviour of a
population.
 Survey data can be collected by
 Food diary and records, food list recalls, food accounts & telephone surveys
• Why: Relevant and current information is essential for
food regulators and health professionals to understand
and address the health, nutritional status and wellbeing
of the Australian population
• Information is used to develop food & nutrition related
programs & public policy development

5. WHAT INFORMATION IS PROVIDED BY
NUTRITION SURVEYS?
 Assessment of dietary intakes
 Dietary trends and food consumption patterns
 Nutritional status of various population groups
 Diet-related diseases/conditions (incidence & prevalence
of these diseases /conditions)

6. USES OF NUTRITION AND FOOD
CONSUMPTION SURVEYS
Overall objective – is to provide food and nutrient data to
assist with the implementation of Australia’s ‘Food and
Nutrition Policy’
 Development of policies for food assistance
 Directions for food regulators ie: food labelling and food
safety programs
 Nutrition education programs – new
 Highlight population groups that may have special
requirements or who are suffering particular nutritional
inadequacies => develop targeted strategies/polices
specifically to target certain population groups

7. USES OF NUTRITION SURVEY’S CONT...
 Enables the revision of National Health Goals and Targets
 Benchmarks are able to be set for future measurements
and comparisons of changes over time
 Assess progress of achievement towards improving health
eating
 Evaluation and conclusions about the effectiveness of
current health eating promotion strategies can be made –
ie. Implementation of dietary guidelines / Review
 Provision of data to inform government policy
 Increased knowledge about consumers for the food
industry – development of new products, fortified foods

8. LIMITATIONS
 Data is a ‘snap shot’ - only relates to a 24-hour period and
is not reflective of overall food consumption.
 Inaccuracies can easily occur due to people not correctly
recalling the type and amounts of food consumed either
deliberately or not remembering
 Limited representation of certain groups within the
population
 Occur infrequently so many not truly represent current
trends in food and changes in food consumption habits

9. RECENT SURVEYS
 National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity
Survey (Feb – August 2007 and results reported 2008)
 First survey for children conducted in over 10 years
 First to include dietary intake and exercise
 Conducted by CSIRO & University of SA
 Jointly funded by government and industry through the
Australian Food and Grocery Council
 Phone Survey of 4000 young people aged 5 – 16 yrs across
Australia (24 hour food recall, 48 hour activity recall 9+ and
pedometer record – 5-8yrs)
 Repeated 1-3 weeks later

10. NATIONAL CHILDREN’S NUTRITION AND
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY SURVEY (2007)
Your Task – Referring to page 241 -242
 Select 3 findings and for each finding
 State two ways that the governments or the private sector
might use these findings
 What health outcomes may occur if such patterns continue
 What costs might occur if the finding is not addressed
 List 3 reasons why the Government would conduct a survey
such as the National Children’s Nutrition and Physical
Activity Survey

11. NATIONAL CHILDREN’S NUTRITION AND
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY SURVEY (2007)
 Kids Eat, Kids Play Survey
 Results Page 241
 Why was this survey was conducted?
 Need for data on children’s nutritional intake, physical activity
and weight status for monitoring purposes and to inform policy
and decision-making in this area.
• Results enabled governments and health professionals:
 Understand and analysis changes in children’s eating and activity
patterns.
 Target strategies that address areas of concern
 Sets benchmarks for strategies to be measured against
 Build appropriate and informed policy
 Provides evidence base for development and evaluation of
government policies

12. NUTRIENT REFERENCE VALUES (NRVS)
 Published in 2005
 Joint recommendations for nutrient intakes for Australia
and New Zealand
 Amounts of nutrients required on an average daily
basis for adequate physiological function and
prevention of deficiency disease or chronic disease
prevention
 Multiple levels of nutrients
 Additional information re: levels of intake that may reduce
the risk of chronic diseases and information in dietary
pattern required to reduce the risk of chronic disease such
as heart disease and obesity

13. FROM VCAA…
 NRV form the basis of all nutritional models and tools used
within Australia (e.g. AGHE, Dietary Guidelines)
 Focus - the purpose of the NRV to guide dietary intake
 But, we do not want students to understand the differences
between all the differing measures, eg RDI, EAR, UL, AMDR,
SDT
What you need to know:
 What are the NRV and what are they used for?
 Who uses the NRV?
 How are the NRV related to other nutritional tools such as those
referred to in the subsequent points of the key knowledge,
including the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, Dietary
Guidelines and food legislation such as food labelling

14. NUTRIENT REFERENCE VALUES: THEIR
PURPOSE IN GUIDING HEALTHY EATING.
THE FOUR MAIN VALUES INCLUDE:
a) EAR: an average intake sufficient to meet the
needs of half of the population
b) RDI: a generous allowance that will meet the
needs of about 98% of the population
c) AI: a minimum amount that will prevent a
deficiency
d) UL: an upper level amount, more that which
might create concerns related to an excess

15. PURPOSE OF NRV
 Assess the likelihood of inadequate intake in individuals or
groups of people (Dietitians – Health Professionals)
 Use in research and data compilation - Government
 Used for large scale catering or meal planning i.e. hospitals,
aged-care facilities, Armed Services- Consumers
 Developing food choice guides (Dietary Guidelines) -Gov
 Food labelling laws to help make informed decisions – Gov
 Setting food policy and legislation - Government
 Educate individuals about the types and amounts of foods
required to satisfy their nutritional requirements -HP
 Food manufactures – useful when developing modified foods
(fortification of food i.e. folic acid in bread) or products that
are a sole source of nutrition such as home meal
replacements

16. LIMITATIONS
Recommendations are generally for healthy
people – may not be suitable for some people
Not suitable for pre-term infants or for people
with specific genetic profiles
Do not take into account:
 Additional needs of individuals on Medication i.e. Warfin
 Those whose lifestyle may affect nutrient absorption or use such as
people who smoke or have a high intake of alcohol.
• Difficult to understand and interpret due to the
complexity and breadth of information without
a nutrition background
• Designed for use by nutritional professionals

17. 1. Using the data in this table, compare the intake of the eight-
year-old female (with a high activity level) with the RDIs. Identify
nutrients that the child is deficient in, and those that she is
having an excess of.

18. AUSTRALIAN GUIDE TO HEALTHY EATING
(AGHE) = DEVELOPED IN 1998 (REVISED 2013)
 The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating is a (government designed)
food selection model that was in response to the increasing number of
Australians suffering from diet-related diseases.
 It incorporates 5 main food groups, acknowledges the consumption of
‘sometimes’ foods eaten in small amounts, suggesting food that should be
used in small amounts and encourages the consumption of water.
 It is based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines
 converts scientific knowledge of food consumption and the NRV’s for health into a
practical guide for food selection.
 Purpose - Nutrition Guide to provide information to individuals make
healthy food choices regarding the appropriate foods to choose to eat each
day and increase the health of Australians by helping individuals to develop
the skills and knowledge necessary to choose a healthy diet.

19. Australian
guide to
healthy eating
website

20.  Visual representation of the recommended proportion of the
diet to choose from each group
 Reflects multicultural nature of Australia
 A tool for health professionals and educators to promote
healthy eating and good nutrition, planning menus,
patient/client counselling, promotional messages and public
health programs
 Includes recommended daily serves and information about
what is a ‘serve’ of each food group. (This is important as one
persons interpretation of what constitutes a sample size
maybe different to another persons)
 Provides information about the amounts and kinds of food that
an individual needs to eat daily in order to obtain enough of
the nutrients essential for good health.
 It is accompanied by extra information: table, sample serves

21. Your Task”
 Summarise each section
 Describe The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating– what
information is provided?
 Who and when was the model developed?
 Why was the model produced?
 Who is the model aimed at?
 List limitations of the model.
 Read p 249 – Applying the AGHE

22. DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AUSTRALIANS
 Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults (2003) –2013
 Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in
Australia (no longer valid)
 Guidelines seek to promote the potential benefits of
healthy eating to reduce the risk of diet-related disease
and improve the community’s health and well-being
throughout the lifespan
 Potential economic benefit of an effective nutrition-based
preventative strategy is enormous (current cost $6 billion
a year)
 Australian dietary guidelines website

23. LIMITATIONS OF THE AUSTRALIAN GUIDE TO
HEALTH EATING AND THE DIETARY GUIDELINES
 Limited application to those population groups that
have increased or different nutritional needs ie
pregnant women.
 Assume a certain level of nutritional knowledge of
certain terms ie ‘wide variety’, ‘low fat’. ‘eat plenty’
 Do not support disadvantaged groups such as low-
income earners who may have difficulty affording a
wide variety of foods or people from multicultural
backgrounds who may find it hard to access their
cultural foods.

24. Your Task:
 Describe the Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults –
what information is provided?
 Who and when was the model developed?
 Why was the model produced?
 Who are they aimed at?
 List limitations of the guidelines
 Summarise the significance of each guideline