Obesity driving up disease deaths

[injuryupdate]

From AAP:

Obesity 'driving up disease deaths'
From: AAP
May 02, 2006
ALMOST 11,000 Australians die each year from heart disease and other illnesses linked to being obese or overweight, research shows.

The study, by the University of Queensland's Centre for Burden of Disease and Cost Effectiveness, evaluated the role of excess weight in deaths linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoarthritis and breast, bowel and endometrial cancer.
Based on 2003 figures, it found excess weight accounted for 7.9 per cent of those deaths, or up to 10,500 lives.

Of the deaths, 7000 were due to cardiovascular disease, with a further 2000 due to diabetes.

Commissioned by the National Heart Foundation, the research estimated 70 per cent of diabetes sufferers would die of cardiovascular disease, or about 8600 people annually.

Overall, heart disease remained the nation's leading cause of death, accounting for 38 per cent of deaths.

The study also found 54 per cent of Australians were not doing enough exercise.
Health Minister Tony Abbott said at the National Heart Foundation's launch of the Walk for Life Campaign that greater awareness was vital.

"I was appalled to remind myself this morning that almost four million Australians suffer from some form of cardiovascular impairment," Mr Abbott said.

"Some 7000 Australians die every year directly because of cardiovascular disease linked to being seriously overweight.

"That's 20 people a day dying of cardiovascular disease because they are seriously overweight. That is a big, big problem."

Mr Abbott said imposing greater restrictions on food advertising was not the solution to the problem.

"It is our culture that is at issue here, not just our advertising," he said.

"The fundamental point is that ads don't make you fat, food makes you fat if you eat too much and you don't exercise enough and that's what people need to understand."

"I think it's very important that we become more conscious of just what it is that we are putting into our mouths and just what we need to do in terms of exercise to burn that off."

The Walk for Life campaign aims to encourage Australians to be more active, primarily by walking.

It was launched today as part of Heart Week 2006.

[injuryupdate]

Looks like Abbott is threatening to do something:

Abbott targets fast food
From: AAP By Rosemary Desmond
May 03, 2006
ALL takeaway food packaging should carry labels showing calorie levels to help cut Australia's increasing obesity epidemic, federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said today.

Mr Abbott said the labels would not have to be as big as those on the front of cigarette packets, but should clearly indicate what high calorie food could do to a person's weight and health.
"At the moment, all this information is hidden away in the fine print, like the fine print of an insurance policy," Mr Abbott told reporters at an Obesity Summit in Brisbane today.

Mr Abbott said a Mars bar or a Magnum ice cream made up one eighth of an adult's daily calorie needs and a meat pie around one sixth, while a Big Mac carried a whopping 1080 of the 2500 calories needed in the average adult's daily intake.

But he said most restaurants would escape the same labelling requirements because the majority of food served in sit-down meals was lower in fat and sugar content than most takeaways.

"Fast food is more of a problem and because fast food is invariably packaged in some way, I think this offers people a much greater possibility of making real informed choices," Mr Abbott said.

Mr Abbott said his department had already held talks with some manufacturers who had expressed an interest in better food labelling.
Professor of paediatrics and child health at the University of Sydney, Louise Bauer, told the summit that research had shown being obese at the age of 40 took an average of seven years off a total lifespan and being overweight at 40 took one year off.

Bad eating habits usually began in childhood, Professor Bauer said.

"I want to put to put to rest the myth of puppy fat," she said. "Children do not outgrow it."

The summit was told many fast food manufacturers were deliberately targeting children and their ads should be banned.

But Mr Abbott ruled this out.

"I am not shocked, surprised, or at one level, especially concerned, about any industry trying to promote its products," he said.

"As our awareness of the impact of too much fast food grows, their advertising habits seem to be changing and the latest figures, as I understand it, suggest that they are reducing their television advertising."