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Monash experts join obesity fight27 August 2008
Australia's obesity epidemic required responses from government, the medical profession, schools, parents and children themselves, if it was to be brought under control, a Monash Research Month forum at Federation Square was told. With up to 25 per cent of Australian children obese or overweight, the nation was facing a long-term health crisis because of the increased risk of chronic illnesses - such as diabetes and heart disease - that obesity carried with it. Monash lecturer Dr Justen O'Connor said the health costs of treating diabetes sufferers alone were projected to increase by 400 per cent over the next 30 years because of high rates of obesity in today's school children. Dr O'Connor, a lecturer in the Education Faculty at the Peninsula campus argued that the bulk of Australia's health budget was spent on "downstream" hospital services rather than on "upstream" disease prevention programs. "Rather than rescuing and resuscitating people after they have fallen in the river we should be trying to stop people falling in the river in the first place," Dr O'Connor said. But Dr O'Connor said obesity was more complex than an "energy in-energy out" equation and schools were unfairly targeted as a community resource where a strict exercise and diet regime could be enforced. "The solutions don't lie neatly within the health sector, or the education sector. The problem has to be tackled at the top and the bottom and across the whole community." Obesity researcher Professor Michael Cowley said a social marketing campaign against obesity, themed on anti-smoking campaigns, was not straight forward because of the social and economic complexities of obesity. "If you stigmatise overweight children you could create a bigger problem and turn a large group of teenagers into anorexics. Being overweight in itself is not a problem, but it can lead to other illnesses." Professor Cowley spoke against using hunger suppressing drugs on children but strongly advocated exercise and healthy diet and said schools should play a larger role. "Exercise is one therapy that you can guarantee will work and there are no risks associated with it." Both experts supported the Stephanie Alexander school garden project as a model that empowered children to make informed choices about foods. The project creates vegetable gardens in primary schools that children plant, nurture and harvest, learning about healthy foods and nutrition along the way. Department of Human Services policy analyst Dr Michelle Haby said the regulation of television advertising of junk food had to be included in the debate, as did town planning, so that children could safely walk or cycle to school. The State Government's Go For Your Life campaign was endorsed as a program that reached across sectors and gave advice on healthy eating and exercise at a grass-roots level. The forum heard that the chaperone-style Walking School Bus program had been scrapped by the State government because it was not cost effective and reinforced perceptions that neighbourhoods were not safe for children. About 200 people attended the lecture, one of several in a Monash Research Month program. The forum was moderated by actor and community arts advocate Sigrid Thornton. For more information on Research Month visit the Research Matters website. |
