Background: In remote Indigenous Australian households, periods within an income cycle where the food budget is low or exhausted (low money periods) are relatively common. The extent to which diet quality varies in response remains unclear.
Aim: To assess how plausible short-term variations in food and beverage selections that may occur in response to fluctuations in money availability during an income cycle can impact the diet quality of remote Indigenous Australians.
Methods: Community level dietary intake (energy, micro- and macronutrients) and expenditure were estimated for three remote Indigenous communities (NT, Australia) over one year using complete community food and beverage provider transaction data. Food and beverages that were likely to be consumed during a low money period were identified and data modelling was conducted to simulate a range of scenarios about potential nutrition responses to having a period of low money.
Results: All scenarios resulted in a reduced diet quality during the low money period relative to the overall average diet values. Protein and fat percent energy were reduced and carbohydrate percent energy increased. Despite reduced expenditure during the low money period, declines in energy intake were typically buffered due to the reduced energy cost ($/MJ) of the low money period foods. The micronutrient profile of the low money period diet was substantially poorer, such that a number of key micronutrients dropped below recommended daily intake targets.
Discussion/Conclusion: The modelling undertaken in this study suggests that even a short period of low money within an income cycle may noticeably contribute to the reduced diet quality of remote Indigenous Australians and exacerbate lifestyle disease risk. This low money period may represent an opportune target to enhance the efficiency of healthy, low-cost, nutritious take-away and/or snack food based strategies to improve overall nutritional intake in this population group.