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2006 Jul - Sep News Archive

National Children's Survey to help tackle obesity

The Commonwealth Government, with industry support, will undertake the most comprehensive national child nutrition and physical activity survey in ten years. The new $3 million study will examine what Australian children eat, their levels of activity and their physical measurements and produce information that will help develop strategies to fight obesity and chronic disease. More...

2006 Children's TV Food Advertising Awards

Each year members of The Parents Jury are given the opportunity to nominate and then vote for the TV food ads that they both love and hate the most. This is your chance to voice your opinion and publicly let your concerns be heard. Which ad has really stuck in your mind? Which ad has made you cross because of the underhand techniques it uses to encourage your kids to eat junk food? Which ad do you love to see again and again because of its healthy food message? The nominations for the 2006 Awards have now been tallied and the shortlists are described below. Voting will close on Friday October 6th 2006. More...

Child obesity a bigger problem

Obesity (in China) is becoming one of the biggest threats to children's health, a recent nationwide investigation has warned, pointing out that students' physical indicators are declining because of a lack of enough exercise. The past five years have witnessed fast growth in the number of fat children in some big cities, the number has even doubled, the survey showed. In Beijing , for example, latest figures from the local education authorities show that the height, weight and chest measurement of young students keep expanding, while physical indices, such as lung capacity, speed and strength, are going down. More...

Code won't change what children see on TV

FOOD advertising to children is sure to generate heated debate at today's meeting of health ministers. Representatives of the advertising and food industries have been invited to present a draft food and beverage advertising and marketing communications code which they say will deliver world's best practice in industry self-regulation. The unfortunate reality is that under this code there will be little change to what children see on television. More...

Weighing in on the side of healthy eating

PESTER power. Parents know it well and so do the advertisers who coined the term. That nagging from children to buy a "happy meal" is not an accidental consequence of watching a TV ad. Despite the constraints of the Children's Television Standards, sophisticated and expensive marketing techniques are routinely used with the aim of encouraging children to exert pressure on their parents to buy food and drink that has little or no nutritional value. Celebrity endorsements, peer pressure and the offer of "free" toys are all part of the advertisers' arsenal. More...

Beat junk, read labels

A few weeks ago I was a judge at Sydney's Royal Fine Food shows. One of the categories included a range of mueslis. No brands were revealed but the product title and its ingredients list were. One cereal had fruit in its name so we went looking for some. We looked and we looked but it was not a rewarding search. More...

World junk food ban

Obesity experts want nations to ban or limit junk food marketing to children to stem the global fat epidemic. The International Obesity TaskForce has released a report urging children be protected from exploitative marketing techniques used on the internet, TV and other media. The proposal calls on United Nations agencies and governments to develop globally enforceable standards to protect children. More...

Obesity is the biggest public health hurdle of the century

Like many nations, Australia is in the throes of an unprecedented epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes - an epidemic in acceleration mode. Over the last week, more than 2500 scientists have been in Sydney for the 10th International Congress of Obesity. The theme of the congress was "From Science to Action". More...

2006 CHILDREN'S TV FOOD ADVERTISING AWARDS

STOP PRESS! The Parents Jury will be calling for nominations in the 2006 Children's TV Food Advertising Awards soon. STOP PRESS! More...

The youth of today

At just 15 years of age, Patrick Craig is already a Gulliver in a Lilliputians' world � standing at an extraordinary 206 centimetres. He's still on the way up, part of the new, big generation. Patrick is leading the trend for new generations of Australians to outgrow the old, as shown in a study of 5000 adolescents in South Australia. More...

Ad ban to help fat kids

MORE than half the food commercials aimed at children are for high fat, sugary foods, according to research that shows the junk food assault is accelerating childhood obesity. The Sydney University study results come as NSW Health Minister John Hatzistergos lobbies for restrictions on the use of promotional toys and celebrities in selling junk food to children. More...

Fat chance of avoiding hard sell

SNACK and fast food companies routinely flout guidelines on television advertising to children and are deliberately encouraging a junk food culture, according to the most comprehensive Australian study on the content of ads. Nearly one-third of Sydney television advertising was for unhealthy or non-essential foods, according to the research, conducted by the Cancer Council NSW. Today health ministers will debate food advertising rules, with childhood obesity levels spiralling out of control. More...

Don't stop at junk food let's have no ads on TV

You'd probably be aware there's been quite some row between state health ministers and the federal Government over television advertisements for so-called junk food. Simply put, the states want to restrict or ban the exposure of young people to commercials for fat-inducing foods. But the federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, and the Prime Minister, John Howard, believe it should be up to parents what their children eat and what commercials they're free to watch. Howard and Abbott believe acceding to the states' desire to restrict or prevent commercials for fat-inducing foods would be akin to creating a so-called nanny state. More...

Weighing costs of child obesity

The Medical Journal of Australia rates obesity as the most prevalent preventable child health issue in Australia ahead of dental disease, emotional and behavioural problems, bullying and learning delays. More than 23 per cent of Australian children and adolescents are overweight, with six per cent being obese. More...

High school children sick of sitting on their classes

Children who start high school are miserable about the absence of physical games at lunchtime. Year 7 students at private and government schools said in a study that they were forced to sit and talk during breaks because they were not allowed to run, play informal games or have access to sporting equipment. Health experts said the findings were alarming given that Australia is in the grip of an obesity epidemic, with 30 per cent of children classified as overweight. More...

Being fat no longer a joke

Today, president of the Australian Medical Association Dr Mukesh Haikerwal meets Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott to ask him to be a good sport. For the sake of all Australians, not just the elite athletes among us. The AMA wants the Federal Government to fund family-based exercise programs dollar for dollar with what it spends on elite sports. More...

Children get 90-minute warning

Children need to exercise for at least 90 minutes a day � 50 per cent more than government recommendations � to avoid heart disease in later life, according to research. Guidelines suggest that young people aged between 5 and 18 should complete an hour of physical activity, such as cycling, running, dancing or other sports, every day to reduce risks of premature death. But a study, published in The Lancet, concludes that this is an underestimate and suggests that they should do at least half as much again. More...

Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity � A Matter of Policy

Everyone knows that American children are becoming fatter, but not everyone agrees on the cause. Many of today's children routinely consume more calories than they expend in physical activity, but this imbalance results from many recent changes in home, school, and neighborhood environments. Concerned about the health and economic costs of childhood obesity, in 2004 Congress asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to examine one potential cause � the marketing of foods directly to children. More...

Health ministers defy PM over junk food ads

STATE and territory health ministers have defied an order by the Prime Minister to drop the issue of a junk food ad ban by vowing to press ahead with their own investigation of advertising regulations. John Howard has told the states and territories to drop the issue of further regulation of food advertising to children, as it was a Commonwealth issue. But yesterday ministers agreed to press on and form a working party to look at all advertising codes for children and report back later this year, a marked climb-down from their call earlier in the day for a ban or partial ban on junk food advertising on TV. More...

Coke's sins go on display

COCA-COLA has bowed to public concern over the escalating obesity crisis and will display kilojoule counts on the front of all soft drink cans and bottles. The move comes amid calls for taxes on junk food and high-sugar drinks. More...

Govt calls for new food labels

Labels on junk food should include advice on how much exercise is necessary to burn off the energy they contain, according to proposals by the NSW government. NSW Health Minister John Hatzistergos said he had called on Food Standards Australia New Zealand to examine a new labelling system that would show how much exercise was needed to burn kilojoules in certain foods and drinks. More...

Food marketing: playing with children�s health

Marketing food to children influences their diets and so, ultimately, their health, says the June issue of CHOICE. The independent consumer magazine looked at 70 different products carrying promotions aimed at kids and found that the majority of them were likely to contribute to an unhealthy diet. Chocolate, sweet biscuits, sugary breakfast cereals and confectionery were among the most frequently promoted. More...

Obesity experts back soft drink changes

Soft drink companies have pledged not to stock primary schools with sugar-sweetened drinks or market directly to kids as part of a major beverage marketing overhaul. The new guidelines have been tentatively welcomed by parents groups, dieticians and obesity experts, who say they will go some way to shrinking Australians' expanding waistlines. More...

Advertisers accused of making junk-food culture

SNACK and fast-food companies routinely flout guidelines on television advertising to children and deliberately encourage a junk-food culture in which children no longer know how to eat healthily, according to Australia's most comprehensive study on advertising content. Nearly a third of all television advertising is for unhealthy or non-essential foods, according to the research by Cancer Council NSW. More...

Choice food review

Choice magazine is planning to review the kids' foods that you want to know more about. Read on to find out how you can participate. More...

Food Standards Agency Board responds to Ofcom consultation

The (UK) Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board today agreed its response to the Ofcom consultation on options for tightening the controls relating to the broadcast advertising of food to children. The Board expressed disappointment in the options put forward in the consultation and agreed that none of the options provide a sufficient response to the problem of the imbalance in television advertising. More...

Tax fast food like tobacco and ban it in schools, doctors say

Fast foods, processed snacks and sugary drinks can cause as much ill health as cigarettes, and should be taxed like tobacco and banned from schools and public institutions, obesity experts say. In the strongest call yet for governments to regulate the powerful food industry, Paul Zimmet, professor of diabetes at Monash University, has joined Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity TaskForce in London, to demand tough economic policies to control the availability of low-quality foods packed with fat, salt and sugar. More...

Bob Brown: A fat lot of good ads do

We ban cigarette commercials, so why not those for junk food, asks the Australian Greens leader. Australia could halt the development of childhood obesity within one year of introducing a coherent program, according to health experts. The only missing factor is political will. More...

Kids get dentures as obesity problem bites

Children as young as three are being fitted for dentures while six-month-old babies grow up with rotten teeth as experts warn the obesity epidemic has sparked a dental crisis. The numbers of children with dangerous dental decay is rising across Australia with the incidence of youngsters having serious dental work tripling in the last decade. More...

Parents also junk victims

Last week, visiting chef Jamie Oliver publicly berated parents for feeding their children junk food, putting the blame for the increase in child obesity levels squarely in their kitchens. This week it's a different story. According to author and screenwriter Eric Schlosser, currently in Sydney to promote his upcoming film Fast Food Nation, parents are also victims of the insidious fast food industry. In fact, he argues, it's the fast food companies who are targeting children and profiting from the ignorance of their parents. More...

Worst TV junk food ads to be shamed

Parents fed up with television ads that use toys and catchy jingles to encourage children to eat junk food are being encouraged to vote for the worst offenders. The 2006 Children's TV Food Advertising Awards, held annually by lobby group The Parents Jury, aims to raise awareness of misleading techniques used by some advertisers to sell junk food during children's TV shows. More...

Roll-up, hear this: if it's flat and sticky it's probably not fruit

They look like lollies, smell like lollies and taste like lollies. But millions of dollars have been made convincing consumers that the Uncle Tobys product is a wholesome, nutritious snack. Now the product's manufacturer has admitted what parents have always suspected: there is no fresh fruit - or very little - in a fruit roll-up. Uncle Tobys Foods yesterday gave court-enforceable undertakings to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to stop representing its roll-ups as "made with 65 per cent real fruit". With minimal processing, real fruit is converted into the sweet, sticky, highly-coloured straps many Australian children adore. More...

New call for ban on junk food, drinks

Junk food and soft drinks should be banned from hospitals, schools and other public institutions to help stem growing "diabesity", health experts say. Subsidising fresh and healthy food to make it cheaper and encouraging healthier eating would also help reduce the rate of diabetes and obesity, they say. Paul Zimmet, director of the International Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, and Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce in London, are calling for the measures amid recent reports that diabetes now affects a million Australians. Obesity is strongly linked with type-2 diabetes. More...

Asthma - Obesity Connection: Protein Linked To Diabetes & Obesity Now Has New Role In Controlling Airway Inflammation In Asthma

A new asthma gene provides an unexpected link between asthma and obesity according to a research team at Sydney's Garvan Institute, who are also part of the Cooperative Research Centre for Asthma and Airways. Bennett Shum and colleagues have found that a fatty acid binding protein called aP2, which is already known for its role in diabetes and obesity, is also present in the lung where it is crucial in controlling inflammation in asthma. More...

Obesity study bears fruit

Popular Sesame Street character Elmo refers to cookies as a "sometimes food" and it appears the children of south-west Victoria are of a similar view when it comes to sweet fizzy drinks and lollies. The Be Active, Eat Well four-year pilot compared the growth of 1800 children from Colac aged 2 to 12 against another sample group of 800 children from the Barwon south-west region, who did not take part in the program. More...

Conference to consider school meals program

A British professor will outline the health benefits of providing free meals to primary school children at a conference starting in Sydney today. Derek Colquhoun, who will address the Public Health Association of Australia's annual conference, has designed a program in Britain where a local council funds healthy meals for all its primary school children. More...

Kids have to measure up

Australian children will be measured, weighed and interviewed as part of a government plan to tackle the obesity epidemic. The $3 million national nutrition survey, involving thousands of children, is part of a package of obesity-fighting measures to be announced today by federal Health Minister Tony Abbott, Communications Minister Helen Coonan and Education Minister Julie Bishop. More...

Time to chop junk food ads aimed at children

I can't understand the Federal Government's argument that it doesn't have a role in regulating fast-food advertising to children. One look at something as simple as the latest reality television offering, Honey, We're Killing the Kids, and it's not hard to see there are several future generations of Australian adults whose health is at risk simply because of what they are eating and their lack of physical activity. The reason they are eating this fare is certainly because they are being allowed to do so by their parents or carers but also due to targeting from television and other advertising which encourages children to eat junk food. More...

School clamp on fast-food feasts

Fast food has been banned from a school to stop up to 20 parents delivering it to their children each lunchtime. The school's ban covers McDonald's, pizzas and other calorie-laden meals, including those from outlets such as KFC and Red Rooster. The school has also brought in a fitness instructor to help teachers keep healthy, and is reviewing the canteen menu. More...

Sugar tax urged to fix child obesity

A "SUGAR tax" should be introduced on soft drinks and sweets to help overcome childhood obesity, a South Australian MP said today. Independent MP Kris Hanna, who has written to federal Treasurer Peter Costello proposing the tax, said revenue raised could go towards educational programs that teach young people the benefits of healthy eating. More...

Cheaper, healthy food would fight fat: experts

If Australia really cared about how fat everyone was getting, healthy food would be made cheaper, experts said yesterday. Supermarkets would have regular healthy specials. Fruit would be dirt cheap. Food transport into regional and remote areas would be subsidised. Local producers would have incentives to sell into local markets. This is the vision of two of Australia's leading obesity experts after news that Australia has the fastest growing childhood obesity rate in the world. More...

Parents quizzed on TV junk food ads

Parents wanting to take a stand against manipulative TV junk food ads are being encouraged to nominate their most hated advertisements online. The 2006 Children's TV Food Advertising Awards, held annually by lobby group The Parents Jury, aims to raise awareness of misleading techniques used by some advertisers to sell junk food during children's TV shows. More...

Killer cities

For the first time in generations children may again die younger than their parents. They eat too much, walk less and worry more. Think of it as a vast experiment in human biology. Put millions of people in a limited space, then crank a few levers: increase the hours they work, and increase the distance they have to travel; tempt them with material goods but undermine their sense of security about the future; allow them almost unlimited access to food, but subtly direct their choice by making grease and sugar most accessible. See what happens. More...

Dentists shocked at rise in tooth decay in children

The youngest patients of the ACT's principal dentist, Chris Bill, have been 18-month-old babies with tooth decay. Babies put to bed with a bottle and given a dummy covered in sweet stuff are at risk of dental problems. More...