Hard-pressed parents cannot take all of the responsibility
for preventing their children from becoming overweight, a
Ministry of Health programme manager, Cynthia Maling, said in
Dunedin yesterday.
Mrs Maling, who is the national manager for the ministry's
Healthy Eating-Healthy Action programme, and ministry chief
advisers Dr Pat Tuohy and Dr Sandy Dawson discussed national
prevention and treatment strategies during an obesity and
diabetes symposium in Dunedin yesterday.
Organised by the University of Otago's Edgar National Centre
for Diabetes Research, the symposium asked "Are We Doing
Enough?" about obesity and diabetes.
Obesity is closely linked with higher diabetes risks, and
particularly the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
A programme newsletter noted that two out of five deaths in
New Zealand each year - amounting to about 11,000 a year -
resulted from nutrition-related risk factors.
These included high cholesterol, reflecting mainly
saturated-fat intake; high blood-pressure, associated with
high salt intake; being overweight or obese, and inadequate
vegetable and fruit intake.
Of those 11,000 deaths, 8000-9000 were likely to result from
dietary factors alone, while the remaining 2000-3000 arose
from insufficient physical activity, the newsletter said.
Mrs Maling said there was "huge room for more" to be done to
counter obesity problems.
However, further action was needed throughout society,
including in the food industry, because some causes of
obesity were far beyond the ministry's influence.
"We're not going to make a difference unless we work
co-operatively and collaboratively."
In an interview, she said parents alone could not be expected
to prevent their children from becoming overweight.
She highlighted many aspects of the "obesogenic environment",
including increased television watching and computer use,
which were associated with lower physical activity levels.
It was "really critical" that efforts be made to reduce the
pressures arising from the marketing of unhealthy food and
drinks to young people, she said.
Food portion sizes had increased, and foods and drinks with
high fat, salt and/or sugar content were being marketed to
young people in many ways, not only through television, she
said.
Edgar National Centre for Diabetes Research director Prof Jim
Mann agreed that "environmental change" was important to make
it easier for people to undertake physical exercise and to
have better access to healthy food.
