Socio-Demographic Determinants of Diet Quality in Australian Adults Using the Validated Healthy Eating Index for Australian Adults (HEIFA-2013)

Diet quality indices have been shown to predict cardiovascular disease, cancer, Type 2 Diabetes, obesity and all-cause mortality. This study aimed to determine the socio-demographics of Australian adults with poor diet quality. Diet quality was assessed for participants of the 2011–2012 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey aged 18 years or above (n = 9435), with the validated 11-component Healthy Eating Index for Australians (HEIFA-2013), based on the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines. Differences in scores by demographics (ANOVA) and regression models for associations between the HEIFA-2013 score and demographic characteristics were conducted. The mean (SD) HEIFA-2013 score was 45.5 (14.7) out of 100 due to poor intakes of vegetables, fruit, grains, dairy and fat and high intakes of added sugar, sodium and discretionary foods. Lower mean HEIFA-2013 scores (SD) were found for males 43.3 (14.7), young-adults 41.6 (14.2) obese 44.1 (14.3), smokers 40.0 (14.2), low socio-economic status 43.7 (14.9) and Australian country-of-birth 44.2 (14.6) (p < 0.05). The overall diet quality of the Australian population is poor and targeted interventions for young-adults, males, obese and those with lower socio-economic status are recommended.