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Home » Latest news » 2005 Oct - Dec

2005 Oct - Dec News Archive

Society ignores the plight of children at its peril

ISRAEL 'S former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, said that a child is born undemocratic: he cannot choose his father, mother, sex, colour or nationality. His fate is given to others to resolve. More...

Australia moves down obesity rankings

Australia has improved its international ranking for obesity but remains among the world's fattest nations. More...

Parents group takes on Kelloggs

The Parents Jury claims cereal giant Kellogg's has failed to disclose the true nutritional value of the popular cereal in television commercials. More...

Children's freedoms reduced out of fear

Australian children enjoy less freedom to roam independently than children in German, English and New Zealand cities, research has found. More...

Fat Chance of Taking Food off Kids' TV

In the world of television advertising, food has become the new tobacco. Just as it slowly became unacceptable and finally illegal to advertise cigarettes on TV 20 years ago, so is the anti-junk food movement gaining momentum. More...

Government initiatives to tackle childhood obesity

The Commonwealth Government has decided to extend the Healthy School Communities program to allow more schools across the country to take up this initiative. The program, worth $15 million, provides community organisations, linked with a primary or secondary school across Australia , with a grant of up to $1,500 for projects to promote healthy eating. More...

FOE launches petition

FOE has launched a petition calling for a ban on the sale of junk food in school, on the advertising of junk food when kids are watching TV and for a select committee enquiry into obesity. More...

Salt levels in bacon twice as high as seawater

It may look more appetising than seawater. But having a bacon sandwich for breakfast is hardly better for your health. More...

TV fast-food ads targeted

JUNK-food advertisements during children's television shows could be banned to stem ballooning obesity among Australian youngsters. More...

Generation X and baby boomers face obesity time bomb

Baby boomers and Generation-Xers are stacking on weight much more rapidly than people born in earlier eras. If current trends continue, more than a third of people now in their mid-20s to mid-50s will be obese by 2013, new research shows. More...

How Does Television �Weigh Into� Childhood Obesity?

Researchers found that each additional hour of TV watching by five-year-old children over the suggested two hours may increase the risk of obesity in 30 year olds by 7%. Removing TV's from bedrooms can reduce the risk of obesity. More...

Kinect Australia Active Media Bulletin December 2005

Nutrition and physical activity news from around Australia. More...

Parents group on counterattack for lolly-free checkouts

A parents lobby group plans to step up pressure on supermarkets after a "disappointing" response to calls for trials of junk food-free checkouts. More...

Five years to rein in child obesity

A NATIONAL obesity group is pressing for government and industry to make 2010 the deadline for turning back the rise in the number of overweight children. It wants tougher policies, including a ban on junk food sales at schools and the introduction of "fat kills"-style advertising. More...

Interview - Professor Boyd Swinburn

Read an edited transcript of Ticky Fullerton's interview with Professor Boyd Swinburn, President of the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity, on obesity prevention and the Romp and Chomp program in Victoria. More...

Active Media Bulletin - November 2005

Physical activity news and upcoming events from around Australia. More...

Family meals help cut obesity

Australian researchers say teenagers who eat meals with their families are less likely to be overweight. More...

Christmas gift ideas to kick-start a healthy 2006

Stuck for an original Christmas gift? The Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) has come up with a range of innovative gifts for family and friends that will give them a healthy head start for 2006. More...

Trial helps weight loss

TUBBY teens are losing weight using the power of their minds in a world-first trial by Melbourne scientists. More...

Ministers to back junk food review

The food industry will come under renewed attack next week when health ministers back a call for an independent review of regulations governing junk food advertising to children. More...

Code to keep food ads in check

CONSUMERS will be given the chance to lodge complaints about all facets of food and beverage marketing - from package design to the use of prizes and popular children's characters - under sweeping changes proposed for the regulation of food marketing. More...

Interview with Tony Abbot

Read an edited transcript of Ticky Fullerton's interview with Tony Abbott, MP, on the subject of childhood obesity in Australia . More...

Junk food battle

PARENTS will begin a new battle against junk food advertising with the announcement yesterday of a review of the role commercials play in childhood obesity. More...

Regulation may help in the battle against obesity

ACCORDING to a provocative piece in a Sunday paper, Australia is in the grips of a fascist food movement that puts Coco Pops on a par with crack cocaine.1 Prompted by criticism of an ex-Playschool host's television commercial for Coco Pops, Fairfax columnist Miranda Devine accused parent groups of hyperbole when it comes to the dangers of �sugary low-fibre calories'. More...

Monica's no cereal offender

Monica Trapaga, singer, entertainer, former ABC Play School presenter, mother of two and all-round nice person, has suddenly become the bete noir of the fascist food movement. More...

Time to consider obesity a disease in its own right

THE epidemic of obesity in both developed and developing countries is growing rapidly. In Australia, the proportion of the population classified as overweight or obese has increased from 40% in 1990 to 51% in 2001 and, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, is expected to reach 60% by 2010. More...

Parents armed with "junk food free kids' TV kit" tohelp combat obesity epidemic

The Parents Jury has launched an online �Junk food free kids' TV' kit to help parents voice their concerns about junk food advertising on children's television. The Parents Jury has approximately 800 members across Australia who are interested in improving the nutrition and physical activity environments of children. More...

Abbott blasted on child obesity stance

Federal Health Minister Mr Tony Abbott has been accused of being out of touch with reality with regard to the alarming rise in childhood overweight and obesity in Australia and the measures needed to tackle the problem. More...

National Nutrition Week 2005

Nutrition week this year is from 16th-22nd October 2005. The theme for nutrition week is 'Get the Edge with Fruit and Veg'. More...

Ministers set sights on junk food ads

TELEVISION advertisements for junk food will come under a two-pronged attack today when Queensland's Health Minister Stephen Robertson asks for them to face a new level of scrutiny. More...

ACMA decides to review the Children's Television Standards

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has decided to undertake a full review of the Children's Television Standards. More...

Some kinds of excess fat are worse than others

Until very recently, all overweight or obese people were considered to be at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure which can lead to stroke, heart attack, and kidney damage. Now, based on new insights, the medical community has a more differentiated view of obesity. More...

Government Report Indicts Food Ads Aimed at Kids

A government report accuses food marketers of using billions in marketing dollars to lure children away from good diet choices. The Institute of Medicine report is billed as "the most comprehensive review" of existing scientific studies and could be a watershed similar to the 1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking. More...

School ban on junk food urged

Soft drink and chip vending machines would be banned in schools and chocolate and lolly fund-raisers scrapped under a hardline plan by the Australian Medical Association to tackle the "obesity epidemic". More...

Parents of Obese Kids Should Switch Off TV, says Abbott

Health Minister Tony Abbott is refusing to cave in to demands for a ban on junk food ads during children's programs, saying parents should simply switch off the television. More...

Kinect Australia Active Media Bulletin October 2005

Recent news on childhood obesity ... More...

Unhealthy Food for Children? Fat Chance

The marketing tactics for some of the biggest children's food brands in the country are in for a king hit if two frustrated Melbourne mothers have their way. More...