The Dietary Guidelines for Australians

Department of Health and Ageing
National Health and Medical Research Council

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ISBN 1864961171 (print) 1864962240 (online)
This work is copyright under the Copyright Act 1968. It may be reproduced in whole
or part for study or training purposes subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgment
of the source and no commercial use or sale. Reproduction for purposes other than
indicated above requires the written permission of the Manager, Legislative Services,
Ausinfo, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601.
Reprinted May 2005
Materials including a poster, booklet and brochure for the general public and
nutrition educators are available by contacting the Population Health Publications
Officer, Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing on toll free 1800 020 103
extension 8654 or at email: phd.publications@health.gov.au
The Australian dietary guidelines and Food for Health information can also be
found on the internet at http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/nhome.htm
Reliable information about food, nutrition and health is also available from:
• Nutrition Australia — www.nutritionaustralia.org
• Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) — www.daa.asn.au
• Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) — www.foodstandards.gov.au
who also produce The official shopper’s guide to food additives and labels: know
what you are eating at a glance (published by Murdoch)
• Local community health centres
• Commonwealth, State and Territory departments of health
• Baby, child and youth health centres
• Accredited practising dietitians in private practice (look in the yellow pages)
or in hospitals and community centres
• National Heart Foundation of Australia — www.heartfoundation.com.au
• Diabetes Australia — www.diabetesaustralia.com.au
Design by Clarus Design, Canberra

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Contents
Dietary Guidelines for Australians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Prevent excess weight gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Eat plenty of cereals, preferably wholegrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Include lean meats, fish, poultry and/or alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Include milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Drink plenty of water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Limit saturated fats and moderate total fat intake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Choose foods low in salt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Limit your alcohol intake if you choose to drink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Consume only moderate amounts of sugars and foods containing added sugars . . . . . . . . . 21
Care for your food; prepare and store it safely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Encourage and support breastfeeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

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The Dietary Guidelines
for Australians
Nutritious foods and an active lifestyle can help achieve good health
throughout life. This booklet outlines the Dietary Guidelines for Australians
which have been developed by food and nutrition experts on behalf of the
National Health and Medical Research Council and the Commonwealth
Department of Health and Ageing.
The Dietary Guidelines highlight the groups of foods and lifestyle patterns
that promote good nutrition and health. No guideline is more important
than another. Each guideline deals with a key health issue and is like a piece
of a puzzle. This guide will help you put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Nutritional needs differ at different stages of life and these are reflected in
the Dietary Guidelines. For the newborn, there is no better food than breast
milk. Older children need a balance of foods to ensure good growth and
development. The scales are tilted differently for adults who often need
to balance eating and physical activity to prevent weight gain. For both
children and adults, some principles always remain the same – the need to
ensure that food is handled well and safe to eat and to enjoy a wide variety
of nutritious foods.
The Dietary Guidelines for Australians are your best
guide to food, nutrition and health. The guidelines for
Adults and for Children and Adolescents are shown
on the following pages. They have many things in
common but children and adolescents do have some
special needs.
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.
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The wide variety of foods enjoyed in the cities is just not available in many
remote communities. But even in some urban areas, healthy fresh foods may
drop off the daily menu for those who are unemployed, have little money or
many mouths to feed.
Does healthy eating cost more ?
While some nutritious foods can be more expensive, there are plenty of
healthy food choices that are available without changing the family’s budget.
Wholemeal bread, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta and vegetables and fruit in
season – foods that should form the foundation of the diet – are not high
cost foods. When diets are rearranged to allow for more of these foods, the
overall costs can come down.
Is healthy eating sustainable?
Although the world currently has enough food to feed its people, the
production of food is placing strain on the environment in a number of
ways. The sustainability of food production and intake is becoming an
increasingly important issue. Can we continue to use the water and soil the
way we do now for growing food ?
The new Dietary Guidelines for Australians promote a sustainable eating
pattern. In the future, the guidelines may evolve and change to account for
systems which prove to be non-sustainable in the long-term. In Australia,
this may well be driven by water use. Australians are the highest per capita
users of water in the world and most of this is used to produce our food.


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Dietary Guidelines for
Australian Adults
Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods
• Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits
• Eat plenty of cereals (including breads, rice, pasta and noodles), preferably wholegrain
• Include lean meat, fish, poultry and/or alternatives
• Include milks, yoghurts, cheeses and/or alternatives.

Reduced-fat varieties should be chosen, where possible
• Drink plenty of water
and take care to:
• Limit saturated fat and moderate total fat intake
• Choose foods low in salt
• Limit your alcohol intake if you choose to drink
• Consume only moderate amounts of sugars and foods containing added sugars
Prevent weight gain: be physically active and
eat according to your energy needs
Care for your food: prepare and store it safely
Encourage and support breastfeeding
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Dietary Guidelines for Children
and Adolescents in Australia
Encourage and support breastfeeding
Children and adolescents need sufficient
nutritious foods to grow and develop normally
• Growth should be checked regularly for young children
• Physical activity is important for all children and adolescents
Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods
Children and adolescents should be encouraged to:
• Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits
• Eat plenty of cereals (including breads, rice, pasta and noodles), preferably wholegrain
• Include lean meat, fish, poultry and/or alternatives
• Include milks, yoghurts, cheese and/or alternatives. Reduced-fat milks are not suitable for young
children under 2 years, because of their high energy needs, but reduced-fat varieties should be
encouraged for older children and adolescents
• Choose water as a drink. Alcohol is not recommended for children
and care should be taken to:
• Limit saturated fat and moderate total fat intake. Low-fat diets are not suitable for infants
• Choose foods low in salt
• Consume only moderate amounts of sugars and foods containing added sugars
Care for your child’s food: prepare and store it safely


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Prevent excess weight gain
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of overweight children
and adults in Australia over the last 20 years. Surveys suggest that Australians
are becoming less active but eating more. Preventing excess weight gain is
thus one of the greatest health challenges we face in the 21st century. We
all know how hard it is to loose those extra kilo’s, once they’ve appeared.
For children and adolescents we need to ensure adequate food intake for
normal growth, without overdoing it.
Does being overweight affect my health?
Carrying too much fat can be a strain on the body. Blood pressure and the
level of fats in the blood may go up increasing risk of heart disease or stroke.
These lead to an increase in the risk of heart disease and stroke. The chance
of developing certain types of diabetes is markedly increased later in life.
Pains in the lower back and arthritis are more common and the risk of some
cancers is increased. If we can prevent excess weight gain in childhood and
in adulthood, we can reduce our risk of many of these health problems.
Why are we getting fatter?
Each day of our lives our bodies take on fuel through the food we eat. We
constantly burn this fuel over the day as we move about. The more we
move, the more fuel we burn. If, at the end of a day, the body has fuel left
over it is stored as fat – body weight increases a little. On the other hand, if
Food
Activity
we burn off more fuel than we have taken on board, the body will use up
Food
Activity
some of its stored fat – body weight falls a little.
When body weight is stable the balance of food intake and physical activity
is close to perfect (Figure 1) and we will prevent excess weight gain. If weight
Figure 1. Weight stable.
is increasing the system is out of balance (Figure 2). This may be as a result of
eating too much food, doing to little physical activity, or both.
So why are Australians getting fatter? It is probably a combination of both
less activity and more food. No doubt we are less active than we used to
be. Hard, physical labour is a thing of the past for most people. Much of our
work and leisure time is spent looking at a computer or television screen.
Too little
The large variety of foods and drinks available today are part of the problem
activity
too. Many foods are high in kilojoules (food energy) and low in fibre and
Too much
Too little
water content. We call these foods energy dense foods. Sugary drinks have
food
activity
also become increasingly popular. Foods and drinks are now very tasty
Too much
food
and portion sizes have increased. From surveys in Australia we know that
people’s energy intakes are also increasing. For example over the decade
from the mid ‘80s till the mid ‘90s, adolescents increased their energy intakes
by more than 10%. It is easy to eat too much.
Figure 2. Weight increases.
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Preventing excess weight gain
There is no secret to preventing excess weight gain. It’s
a matter of finding the balance between food intake
and physical activity. The best approach is to make
permanent changes to both food and activity habits.
Be active every day
Increasing physical activity burns fuel – burns fat. The
amount of fat burned off will depend on two things
- how often you are active and for how long. Aim to
be active every day. Put together at least 30 minutes of
moderate physical activity on most, preferably all, days.
The best kind of physical activity is the one you like the
most. Many people find walking easy and enjoyable.
Also, try to be active in everyday life. Small amounts of
activity, just moving about rather than sitting, all add up
at the end of the day.
Eat smart
Not putting too much fuel in your body is vital to getting the
balance right. The guide to eating a variety of nutritious foods (page
8) is a good place to start when planning your meals. Needless to say,
keep the amounts you eat (portions) moderate in size. Green and

yellow and orange vegetables are the exception to the rule. Eat as
dietary
much of these as you can - they are filling yet low in kilojoules.

guidelines
Pay special attention to the advice about fats (page 18), alcohol
Adults
(page 20) and sugar (page 21). Fats are the richest source of
u Prevent weight gain: be
kilojoules. Moderating the amount of fat in your meals will help limit
physically active and eat
your fuel intake. Remember that some commercial foods labelled
according to your energy needs.
“low fat” sometimes have about the same kilojoules as their non-low
fat equivalent. Read the labels. Focus on cutting down on the not-so-
Children & adolescents
healthy saturated fats. Use the healthy fats in moderation. Eat plenty
u Children and adolescents need
sufficient nutritious foods to
of fruits and vegetables - they are rich in nutrients, fibre and water,
grow and develop normally.
but low in kilojoules.
u Growth should be checked
Drinks are important. Sugary soft drinks, fruit drinks and cordials
regularly for young children.
contain lots of kilojoules but are not as filling as solid foods and are
u Physical activity is important for
easy to overconsume. Alcoholic drinks can increase appetite. Sugary
all children and adolescents.
and alcoholic drinks are sometimes called ‘empty kilojoules’ – they
provide plenty of fuel without many essential nutrients to go with
them. Consider alternatives to sugary soft drinks such as water or
‘diet’ soft drinks.
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Enjoy a wide variety of
nutritious foods
Foods come in all shapes and sizes and may be of animal or plant origin. In
Australia, we also have many different cultures, all with their own cuisines.
Whichever style of eating we choose, we need choose our foods with care
so we obtain all the nutrients we need whilst enjoying the experience of our
diverse food supply. It is not surprising that each food has a unique group of
nutrients and often something special to offer.
•
Wholegrain cereals are rich in B vitamins and fibre.
•
Fruit and vegetables contain vitamin C and folate.
•
Dairy foods are the best source of calcium.
•
Red meats are rich in iron and zinc.
•
Fish is an excellent source of omega 3 fats.
•
Nuts and vegetable oils are rich in essential fatty acids and vitamin E.
Each food plays a role
None of these foods can do the job alone. Young babies can thrive on a
single food, breast milk, but the rest of us need to eat a wide variety of
nutritious foods to ensure our needs are met. Every food has a contribution
to make – a small part to play in good nutrition, health and wellbeing.
The amount and variety of foods available in Australia are more than
adequate to meet the nutritional needs of everyone no matter what cultural

dietary
background they come from or what style of cooking they enjoy or prefer.

guidelines
Yet many people have problems getting the balance right. There are many
who, for one reason or another, do not consume a sufficient variety of foods
Adults, children & adolescents
to meet their nutritional needs. Even more of us fall down on the other side
u Enjoy a wide variety of
of the equation, eating too much of the foods our bodies need least such as
nutritious foods.
those high in saturated fat, salt, sugar and kilojoules.
Eating a variety of foods does not mean eating everything in sight. This
would be the fast track to putting on weight. In a land where food is so
abundant it is important to keep portion sizes small
Quality and quantity
The key is to enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods. We may need to eat
less of some foods on our current menu in order to make room for the
healthy foods our bodies need.
The following pages will guide you in selecting nutritious foods for good health.
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