Our children’s exercise and diet habits are at the centre of a nationwide obesity inquiry. This week the focus will be on Lake Macquarie and what the region is doing to combat the epidemic . . .
An Australia-wide inquiry has been launched after the latest release of statistics from the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity.
Alarmingly, the study found 25 per cent of Australian children are overweight.
Trent Watson, a dietician with Clued on Food and a father himself, knows how demanding and fussy children can be when it comes to their eating habits.
Mr Watson says the inquiry needs to educate children and parents on their eating habits, look at the way companies market their products, and the social trends which influence what children are putting in their bodies.
“Forty per cent of their intake comes from non-core food groups; most of it is processed and packaged foods.
“Obesity basically comes from the amount of energy going in and energy coming out.
“In terms of social trends, kids are still playing organised sport but are engaging less in free play.”
This week Lake Macquarie will host one leg of the public hearing inquiry initiated by the Federal Government, with the Hunter New England Health Service and the Dieticians Association of Australia weighing in on the debate.
Under the spotlight will be the Active After-School Communities program, which was implemented due to fewer children par-ticipating in extra-curricular activity.
The program currently has more than 1000 children participating in the Lake Macquarie and Newcastle areas, across 23 sites.
Marks Point Primary School assistant principal Debbie Lowe says the program has been so successful that next year the program will expand to include infant children.
“It has been running two days a week with the year four to six students.
“It’s good because they get exposed to a variety of sports, which complement what they do in school in the PE/health curriculum.”
The children sign up for eight week blocks with each session usually lasting two hours.
“This term they have been doing rugby union and hip-hop dance classes.
“It’s great exercise for the kids, particularly the children who don’t engage in weekend sport.”
Federal Member for Shortland Jill Hall said Australia had one of the world’s highest obesity rates, which costs the Australian health system about $3.7 billion.
This Friday there will be a public hearing at the Lake Macquarie Function and Conference Centre at Belmont, from 11am.
Following the inquiry, the committee will report on the findings, before it makes recommendations on what governments, industry and individuals should focus on to prevent and manage obesity.
Junk food ads to stay
A new draft of the Australian television standards has been released, with no major changes recommended to existing content standards.
The Australian Media and Com-munications Authority stated that the current amount of advertising restrictions during children’s viewing hours was to be maintained, with no new restrictions on food and beverage advertising.
Although ACMA stated that research ‘does indicate a relationship between advertising and children’s food and beverage requests’, there is only a ‘modest association’ between junk food advertising and obesity.
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