2006 Jan - Mar News Archive

Schools target of obesity fight

Schools across the nation will be forced to keep junk food out of tuck shops under a Howard Government plan to combat obesity and weight-related diseases. The states will be asked at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) today to sign up to a new $1billion health strategy that puts greater emphasis on preventing people getting sick. More...

Junk food marketers target kids with dirty tricks

Snack food advertisers should be banned from targeting children with underhand advertising campaigns that parents are oblivious to, says a new report. More...

Selling Junk Food to Toddlers

For all the talk about protecting children in America , too many of our youngest are threatened by a steady blast of industrial-strength advertising on children's television. Some ads, like those for toys and games, mostly threaten the family budget. But the commercials hawking sugary treats or empty calories can be more pernicious. More...

Junk food banned in schools from September

A ban on confectionery, crisps and fizzy drinks being provided in schools (in the UK) looks certain to begin in September following the publication of advice to ministers by the new School Food Trust yesterday. More...

Snacks slimmed

Food giant Uncle Tobys is pulling a favourite snack off the shelves to help the fight childhood obesity. More...

Helping your kid slim down

Almost one out of every five kids in the U.S. is obese, yet way too many parents are unaware when their child is one of the fat ones. Obese and overweight children are found in every socioeconomic and racial group. They're in the homes of college-educated parents, wealthy parents, even thin parents. Nevertheless, health experts agree that one of the biggest roadblocks to dealing with childhood obesity is denial. More...

Rann cans school junk food to get kids fit

Junk food will be banned in all state school and preschool canteens and vending machines from next year if Labor is re-elected. More...

Anti-obesity ad campaign a hit: Abbott

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott says his own kids' latest fashion fad is proof the federal government's campaign against childhood obesity is working. Mr Abbott was talking about the government's multimillion-dollar advertising initiatives, including television advertisements and t-shirts, to tackle obesity among Australia's young. More...

Greens ask Nationals to put kids first

Greens Leader Bob Brown today urged the Nationals and other parties to support an amendment to ban advertising food during children's television viewing hours. More...

Chubby or obese? It's all in a mother's eye

While government-sponsored ads urge Australian children to eat healthy food and get off the couch, most mothers of overweight children see their weight as normal. A medical study of 324 Melbourne four-year-olds and their mothers has found that while 19 per cent of the children were overweight or obese, more than 70 per cent of their mothers believed their children were of similar weight to their peers. More...

Healthy canteens service

The Department of Human Services, Victoria has established a ‘Go For Your Life' Healthy Canteens Advisory Service, funded by the Victorian Government's Community Support Fund, which aims to provide support to Victorian primary schools in providing and promoting healthy food choices in schools. More...

Most food ads on children's TV promote unhealthy foods

Most food advertisements on children's television are for unhealthy food, new research has revealed. The research also showed that New Zealand children watching television during children's television viewing times saw an average of 12 food advertisements an hour. More...

Fat mums put babies at risk

OVERWEIGHT and obese women are more likely to suffer complications during pregnancy and their babies have an increased risk of birth defects and prematurity, Australian research has found. More...

Parents support supermarket swap if checkouts go confectionery free

Results from a survey released today by The Parents Jury show that parents would overwhelmingly support the introduction of confectionery free checkouts in supermarkets. More...

New evidence linking soft drinks to weight gain in children

Children kept off sugary drinks lost weight after a period of six months, according to a new study, findings that add to the mounting body of evidence linking childhood obesity with soda consumption. More...

Hospital's McDonald's attacked

VICTORIA'S peak health group has demanded fast-food chain McDonald's be kicked out of the Royal Children's Hospital in a bid to stem the state's spiralling obesity epidemic. More...

Do you know what you ate at preschool?

The diet of preschoolers may influence the risk of breast cancer during adulthood, according to a Boston-based group of investigators. More...

Aussie battles world bulge

Professor Boyd Swinburn of population health at Deakin University in Melbourne is convinced there's a case for changing government policies – including banning advertising for junk food that targets children, as has already been done in Sweden and Quebec, and working to redesign our towns and cities – in a way that helps people to be more active. More...

Battle of the bulge for kids

Diet experts have welcomed belated government interest in the growing problem of obesity in children. More...

Nickelodeon, Kellogg Targets of Lawsuit

Washington -- Advocacy groups and parents are suing the Nickelodeon TV network and cereal maker Kellogg Co. in an effort to stop junk food marketing to kids. More...

Stuck-at-home kids miss out on exercise

When Burwood mother-of-six Sue Hagenaar was a girl, she never got to slouch in front of the television set after a hard day at school. There was no TV in the house. With no PlayStation, DVDs, computer games or internet either, Hagenaar, 52, was physically active. New research says today's children are not. More...

Walk Safely to School Day

Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is an annual, national event when all Primary School children will be encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It will be held throughout Australia on Friday 7 April 2006. More...

Thinner pay, fatter bodies: obesity hits poor

Poor people in Melbourne weigh an average three kilograms more than those on high incomes, a study on obesity has found. More...

Bets off on grog and fast food ads

FAST food, alcohol and gambling advertising, worth millions of dollars to media companies annually, is opposed by most Australians, according to new research tracking social change in Australia during the past decade. More...

Children's TV standards review to stay ahead of the game

Australian Children's Television Standards are undergoing a review that will encompass the classification of programs and the quota system, which determines what type of children's programming must go to air, how much should be Australian content, the highly contentious debate linking advertising to obesity, how much advertising is allowed, as well as the effect new media are having on the amount of TV children watch and when. More...

Walking school buses help overweight kids

New Walking School Bus research shows Aucklanders are benefiting from more than just the annual reduction of 720,000 car trips Walking School Buses generate. It shows school kids and adults alike love the daily physical activity of the school walk. More...

Celebrity junk food ads for under-10s banned

The crisp-pilfering antics of Gary Lineker will be seriously curtailed under a new health-conscious regime for children's TV advertising. Watchdogs are banning the use of celebrities in junk food commercials aimed at under-10s in a bid to tackle the obesity timebomb. More...

Everyone must help fight this weighty issue

Health Minister Tony Abbott launches a new series of advertisements as part of a $116 million program to encourage young people to spend less time watching television, get off the couch and exercise by finding enjoyment in sports and games, swimming, bushwalking and being more active generally. More...

Parents want lolly-free checkouts

MORE than 70 per cent of Australian parents would consider changing where they shopped if a rival supermarket offered lolly-free checkouts, a survey shows. More...

Deprived of playgrounds

Crack open the chardonnay! A new inner-city childcare centre has opened, its existence surely a help to the many families whose children are on never-ending waiting lists. More...

Teen boys living on soft drink

Teenage boys are drinking almost a litre of soft drink a day, more than twice as much as girls, renewing calls for high-calorie fizzy drinks to be banned in schools. The latest research found boys aged 16 to 18 get most of their energy from carbonated drinks. More...