Promoting healthy eating
Healthy eating is essential for good physical and mental health. However, many people face barriers to accessing healthy food.
Healthy eating: maintaining a nutritious, balanced diet that comprises a wide variety of foods and provides what the body needs for growth, metabolism and physical activity, while helping to protect against obesity and diet-related disease.
Poor diet and nutrition lead to ill health, causing unnecessary strain on the public health system. In fact, unhealthy eating causes the largest strain on the health system, accounting for 17.4% of the total disease burden in Victoria. The increase in obesity rates – from 19% in 1995 to 24% in 2008* – is an example of this diet-related disease burden. High obesity rates are a great public health concern. The factors that influence food choice are complex and often beyond the control of individuals.
VicHealth is taking a broad approach to the issue by investigating the barriers that prevent people from accessing nutritious food for healthy eating. Often, these barriers are beyond individual control and must be dealt with in a broader community setting.
Healthy eating throughout the community
Healthy eating also encompasses cultural, economic and social factors of food accessibility, including buying and preparing food, and sharing it with others.
The key to supporting healthy eating throughout the community is to ensure everybody has access to a variety of affordable, culturally appropriate, nutritious foods. This can largely be achieved by developing a better understanding of food security and food systems and how these affect people’s food choices.
Research shows that people who experience social, geographic and economic disadvantage do not have adequate access to affordable, nutritious foods. People with income constraints are more likely to consume energy-dense foods than plant-based foods. Research also shows that energy-dense foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar are perceived to be more filling, more affordable, and more accepted by family members.
Food and health inequalities
These issues tie in to the larger issue of health inequalities; the unfair distribution of health and wellbeing throughout society. VicHealth’s healthy eating program contributes to an overall strategy to reduce health inequalities amongst priority populations.
VicHealth’s strategy for promoting healthy eating combines regulation, policy, programs, research, monitoring and evaluation. Our work complements State and Federal governments’ food and nutrition strategies. We also work with key stakeholders to build their capacity to help reduce health inequalities.
* Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Social Trends, 2009.