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 5.4% of burden of disease in Australia in 2018.
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 people in Australia ate a healthy diet (see ABDS 2018 Risk factor estimates data table).
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 1.2% of the total burden in Australia in 2018. This was followed by diet low in wholegrains & high fibre cereals (0.9% of total burden in 2018), diet high in sodium (0.9%) and diet high in red meat (0.9%).