4727.0.55.005 - Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: Nutrition Results - Food and Nutrients, 2012-13  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/03/2015  First Issue
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SUPPLEMENTS

DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

Dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, oils, herbs and other nutritive and non-nutritive supplements. These are also referred to as 'complementary medicines,' and the many thousands of these various products are regulated within Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

One in eight (12%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported taking at least one dietary supplement. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults (19 years and over) were more likely than children to have taken a supplement (14% compared with 8% for children). Overall, males and females were equally likely to have taken supplements. However, females aged 14-18 years were five times more likely to have taken supplements than males of the same age (15% compared with 3.2% for males).

Graph Image for Supplement consumers(a)(b) by age and sex, 2012-13

Footnote(s): (a) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 2 years and over. (b) On the day prior to interview.

Source(s): Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: Nutrition Results – Foods and Nutrients, 2012-13



Around three in five (62%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who had taken a supplement had only taken one type of supplement, with one quarter (25%) taking two different supplements, and one in eight (13%) taking three or more different supplements.

Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Vitamin and/or mineral supplements (9.2%) were the most commonly taken dietary supplements, with Oil supplements taken by around 4.1% of the population (see Table 11.1).

Was there a difference by remoteness?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in non-remote areas were three times as likely as those in remote areas to have taken one or more supplements (14% compared with 4.3%) (see Table 11.1).

How does this compare with non-Indigenous people?

Non-Indigenous people were more than twice as likely as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have taken one or more supplements (29% compared with 12%) (see Table 11.3).

PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS

Special dietary foods is a food category within the food classification used in the 2012-13 NATSINPAS, and includes foods such as protein supplements. Overall, 1.9% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consumed Special dietary foods, a lower proportion than in the non-Indigenous population (2.9%). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males aged 19-30 years were most likely to have consumed a Special dietary food, with similar rates reported in the non-Indigenous cohort (see Table 4.1 and Table 4.3).