Obesity hitting younger children in NZ, experts say

As obesity reaches epidemic levels across the developed world, New Zealand health experts are worried that the problem is affecting increasingly younger children.

About 17 per cent of New Zealand adults are obese, says the Ministry of Health.

The incidence of obesity rose 55 per cent between 1989 and 1997, the last year national figures were recorded.

Fight the Obesity Epidemic (Foe) spokeswoman Robyn Toomath said no figures were kept for childhood obesity in New Zealand.

Foe advocates banning food ads during children's television hours and banning soft drinks from schools.

Anecdotal evidence and studies in countries with similar obesity rates suggested "kids are getting fatter faster than anybody else", said Dr Toomath, a consultant endocrinologist at Wellington Hospital and president of the Society for the Study of Diabetes.

"Studies in British children show even pre-schoolers are becoming obese."

The incidence in children of type-II diabetes or adult-onset diabetes, which was "powerfully linked" to obesity, were previously rare but had leaped in recent years.

Dr Toomath said the reason obesity rates were soaring was obvious: fewer children walked or cycled to school and more ate junk food while there.

At home, they watched more television - an extra two hours a day on average - which bombarded them with advertisements for foods high in sugar and fat.

Soft drinks make up 20 per cent of the average child's calorie intake. A single fast-food "combo" meal can provide two-thirds of a child's daily energy intake.

Rachel Taylor, of Otago University's department of nutrition, said little research had been done on the link between fast foods and obesity, but it "makes sense" that eating high-fat, high-energy fast foods affected weight levels in children.

"But there's no one answer to rising obesity levels."

Most of the research into obesity being done in the United States and Europe was concentrating on bigger food portions and so-called energy-dense foods, Dr Taylor said.

"A hamburger can be quite energy-dense, which people always relate to its fat content, but a muesli bar can also be very energy-dense."

Otago University will next year subsidise healthy foods at six schools in a world-first study into the effect lifestyle changes have on childhood obesity.

"As far as research shows, what determines our choice of food is price and availability," Dr Toomath said.

Children were more likely to choose healthy over non-healthy food at school if the healthy food was cheaper.

Foe has written to the Ministers of Education and Health and school boards of trustees recommending that some foods - chips, pies, sweets and soft drinks - be banned and healthy items sold instead.

Foe was also talking with Labour MP Tim Barnett on a member's bill that would govern advertising to children and the sale of fast foods in schools.

Mr Barnett said experts were assessing the success of laws in California banning soft drinks from schools and in Sweden governing food advertising to children.

Dr Toomath said a US study quoted on the website of American pressure group Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children said youngsters could not distinguish between adverts and programme content.

Dr Toomath said it was doubtful that cash-strapped New Zealand television companies would voluntarily remove junk food adverts.

Making little changes on a big scale was the best way of making progress, she said.

Lowering the fat content of crisps by just 1 per cent could, over a year, reduce average fat consumption up to 0.5kg.

"But the incentives for the food industry to make money are so huge that I suspect it is more realistic to view them as the enemy."

Winsome Russell, also of Otago University, who is working on the first national nutrition survey of children for the Ministry of Health, said it was wrong to lay the blame wholly at the feet of fast-food companies.

"There is a lack of acknowledgment of how complex the issues are."

Dr Toomath said some schools had decided to put students' health ahead of canteen profits.

In May, Lower Hutt's Taita College became the first school in the country to be awarded a gold Heartbeat Award by the National Heart Foundation for its healthy food programme.

Taita replaced all sugary drinks, pies and chips with low-fat smoothies, frozen yoghurts, sandwiches and baked wedges.

Financial manager Trish Bullard said the college still made a profit, but less than that from selling processed food.

One school estimated it would lose up to $19,000 a year by changing its canteen fare.


- NZPA

Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/health