Already a member?
Enter your email address

Home » Latest news » 2006 Oct - Dec

2006 Oct - Dec News Archive

Health experts think we can make inroads into Australia's obesity crisis by trading the car for walking shoes. It's a hot, sunny morning in Albert Park, with a dry wind whipping along the beach; luckily everyone's brought their water bottles. Di Mooney, a trim 59-year-old, is putting her 12 walkers through their warm-up paces. More...

Pester vote goes to McDonald's

For the second year running, McDonald's has won the Pester Power Award in the Parents Jury Children's Television Food Advertising Awards. More than 1400 parents voted in the awards, which highlight the role played by marketing and advertising in the childhood obesity epidemic. More...

WA hospital bans junk food

Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth has become the first public hospital in Western Australia to ban junk food. The hospital has been selling more than 60,000 buckets of chips and almost 70,000 soft drinks each year. More...

Leading to fitness

"Obesity cost Australia $21 billion last year, double the cost of Medicare," was the headline that highlighted Access Economics' recent report into obesity. "This," the report says, "was as a result of the sharply rising incidence of costly chronic diseases associated with obesity including [type 2] diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and cancer." And that's the good news. The report concludes that "the 3.24 million Australians now afflicted will double to 7.2 million within 20 years if current trends persist". More...

Blow to school's obesity battle

The ballooning childhood obesity crisis will worsen with a State Government decision to replace an annual $4 million physical activity program in schools with a $425,000 "Premier's Challenge", experts warn. More...

Folic acid may be �force fed� via bread

Britain will take the first step towards mass medication of the population this week with the publication of proposals to add the vitamin folic acid to bread. A report commissioned by ministers will recommend the compulsory fortification of flour and bread with folic acid to help prevent babies being born with birth defects. More...

Modern urban planning is no child's play

Remember back to that secret place the neighbourhood children would meet at to begin the afternoon's fun. A spot beside the local creek, perhaps. A hidden cubby house in the bush up the hill or behind the estate. Parents yelling at dusk for their kids to come home for dinner. Fast-forward to today, where the notion of city children playing unsupervised in an untamed public space, or even wandering up to the local shops, is often too frightening for parents to contemplate. Not that there is the available public land to run around in, given skyrocketing property values. More...

Coca-Cola attacked over jamboree sponsorship

Less than 24 hours after Coca-Cola said it did not market to children, The Age can reveal that the soft drink giant is the main sponsor of the annual Australian Scouts Jamboree - a 12-day event for 12,000 youngsters mostly aged between 11 and 15. Angry parents and nutritionists have accused Coca-Cola of targeting children at the $11 million event to be staged at Elmore, near Bendigo, in January. More...

Walktober - A new initiative to promote the benefits of walking

Walking is easy, it's free, it's good for you, and it's a great way to connect neighbourhoods and communities. Walktober will be held for the first time in October this year. More...

WA bans fatty foods at canteens

Deep fried foods, pastries and soft drinks will be banned from West Australian public schools as part of the State Government's fight against what it calls an "obesity epidemic" among young people. More...

Little misunderstood

Growing up is hard to do, especially for young women, and it seems to be more difficult with each passing year. The cavernous warehouse of Fitzroy's Westside Circus is an unusual setting for Kingswood College's year 8 class. A trapeze and thick ropes dangle from the rafters, the floor is littered with padded mats and balls for juggling are stacked in a corner. Two 14-yearold girls struggle on to the trapeze. More...

Obesity weighs in as a $21bn-a-year disease

OBESITY cost Australians $21 billion last year in direct spending, disability and premature death, according to a report to be released in Canberra today. And it is likely to get worse, with the Access Economics report estimating that by 2025 as many as 7.2 million Australians or 28.9 per cent of the population could be obese - and that's obese, not just overweight. The report warns that this figure is rubbery, because there is so little information available on the prevalence of obesity. More...

Generation of TV kids

Australian children watch an average of 10 hours of television a week. A Bureau of Statistics survey found watching TV is their No. 1 pastime. Experts say it's no surprise a quarter of Australian children are overweight or obese. More...

Fiona Stanley demands ban on junk food ads

Junk food advertising should be banned during children's television viewing times, leading child health advocate Fiona Stanley said yesterday. Professor Stanley also said she detested the predatory way children were lured with lollies in supermarket checkouts. She said too many aspects of modern society were working against parents who tried to provide a healthy life for their children. More...

Health minister warns against soft drink

Health Minister Tony Abbott has flagged a government campaign to make Australians aware of the dangers of soft drink. "I think that soft drinks, other than as an occasional treat, can be very, very harmful," Mr Abbott said. But he stopped short of promising tighter regulation around the sale and advertising of soft drink. More...

Ban fat food or face closure

School canteens could face closure if they don't ban fatty foods, in a bid to combat Australia's rising epidemic of child obesity. The State Government has not ruled out that it might follow tough measures in Queensland where tuck shops that continue to sell junk food can lose the right to operate. More...

Correspondence with Nutriticia about winning the Smoke and Mirrors Award

Nutricia Karicare won the Smoke and Mirrors Award in The Parents Jury 2006 Children's TV Food Advertising Awards. The Smoke and Mirrors Award was given to the ad that parents felt only presented half the story about the product and was misrepresenting it in an important way. The Parents Jury wrote to Nutricia to inform them of their Award and give them the opportunity to respond. More...

Forum looks at junk food advertising aimed at children

Eat Well Tasmania asked parents and business professionals that question yesterday at a forum at the Inveresk Tramsheds. More than 30 people attended the forum to discuss television advertising of junk food and whether there should be tighter controls on junk food advertising aimed at children. More...

Junk food lure for children

Once upon a time, the Cocotopian monkeys used tree vines to catapult one another across the river in search of delicious Coco Pops - until they discovered the river was made of chocolate milk and Coco Pops and began flinging one another straight in. This ancient practice has now evolved into the acclaimed sport of "Cocopault", one of the events in the 2006 Coco Pops World Games, taking place on a computer near you. More...

Unlikely ally eases junk food shame

THOUGH maligned by anti-globalisation activists and conscientious parents alike, the bioethicist Peter Singer says McDonald's may not be so bad after all. The Princeton University professor - whose book, Animal Liberation, sparked the animal rights movement 30 years ago - told The Guardian he would choose McDonald's over a small independent takeaway because "a big chain has a national and international reputation to protect". "I see big corporations following what consumers will buy," Professor Singer said. More...

Parents sick of being pestered at the checkout

Results from a survey released today by The Parents Jury show that parents are being pestered by their children for junk food at the supermarket checkout. Eighty per cent of parents responding to the survey said that they are always or sometimes pestered by their children to buy lollies or snacks which are located at the end of checkouts. More...

Kids' hospital junk food doubt

The future of McDonald's at the Royal Children's Hospital is in doubt. Hospital management has refused to say whether it will renew the contract of the fast-food chain, which has a lease at the hospital until 2011 -- the same year the new hospital opens its doors. Royal Children's spokeswoman Julie Webber said it was unclear if McDonald's would be a part of the new hospital. More...

Kids bombarded with junk food marketing

Food companies are resorting to increasingly sophisticated and underhand marketing to push unhealthy foods to children, a new Which? report reveals. �Food Fables' takes a close look at the tactics used by 12 of the UK's leading food manufacturers to promote foods high in fat, sugar and salt to kids. More...

2006 Children's TV Food Ad Awards announcement media release

Using free toys to lure children into demanding fast food from their parents today earned the McDonalds Happy Meals ad the Pester Power Award in The Parents Jury second annual TV Food Advertising Awards. More...

Food labelling system will 'confuse'

A new food labelling system that makes cola appear a healthier food choice than milk will confuse consumers, health advocates said. The Per Cent Daily Intake labelling system, shows a food or beverage's contribution to an average adult's recommended energy intake. More...

Fatty foods face ban from Vic canteens

Children at Victoria's public primary and secondary schools will only be allowed to buy junk food twice a term under new rules if the Bracks government is re-elected next month. Tuckshops at 1,600 government schools will be told what they are able to sell under strict new rules. More...

Ad groups link up to cement junk food victories

Advertisers are claiming victory in the debate about junk food advertising's contribution to obesity, but expect more areas of marketing to come under attack. To help them defend the "legitimacy of commercial communications", media and advertising groups have formed an umbrella organisation, provisionally called the Australian Marketing Communications Alliance, which was announced by the advertisers' peak body at a cocktail party last night. More...

Hidden salt a threat to kids� hearts

Australian children as young as one are routinely fed food which is far saltier than sea water as part of a dietary trend which is contributing to alarming rates of obesity and high blood pressure, heart disease experts warn. More...

SA leads national bid for better food labelling

Australia is a step closer to adopting a South Australian proposal to introduce "traffic light" labelling for packaged food. States and territories, and the Commonwealth voted today for food authorities to investigate introducing the traffic light system for food packaging across Australia following a push by South Australia. More...

Vegetables too pricey? Do the maths

If broccoli soared to $24.00 a kilo and red Delicious cost $17.00 a kilo we'd let them rot on the shelves. Yet calculate the cost per kilo of snack foods like chips, and guess what? They can work out at around $24.00 a kilo. Biscuits? Around $10 a kilo - compared to $5.00 a kilo for apples or sweet potato. More...

Just no place for soft drinks in the fridge

Last week I was taken to task for describing soft drink as "water spoilt". Coca-Cola Amatil quite properly said it had diversified into water and fruit juices, as well as a wide range of reduced-sugar drinks. In August, it was the first big drinks manufacturer to start to bring energy content information (including percentage of daily requirement) from the fine print at the back of the container to (relatively) large print at the front. More...

New York Bans Most Trans Fats in Restaurants

The New York City Board of Health voted yesterday to adopt the nation's first major municipal ban on the use of all but tiny amounts of artificial trans fats in restaurant cooking, a move that would radically transform the way food is prepared in thousands of restaurants, from McDonald's to fashionable bistros to Chinese take-outs. More...

Walktober Walk-to-School

October is the official international Walk to School month so put on your walking shoes and be part of a global event during Walktober! This year, we'd like all primary schools in Victoria to encourage children to Walk to School on Wednesday 18 October or on any day during the week of 16 to 20 October. More...

The Sydney Principles

Potential strategies to reduce commercial marketing to children are now being actively considered by governments, non-government organisations, the food, beverage and advertising industries, and international organisations like the World Health Organisation. The Prevention Group and Childhood Obesity Group of the International Obesity Taskforce have joined forces to develop and promote the underlying principles (�The Sydney Principles�) to guide the regulatory action on commercial promotions that target children. Comments and feedback are now sought for the draft of the �Sydney Principles�. More...

Healthy food too expensive for many

One in five households in the poorest suburbs of Sydney's south-west cannot eat properly because of a lack of money, inadequate access to shops, or unsuitable kitchens or refrigerators, State Government research has found. More...

Youth obesity blamed on lack of exercise

Lack of exercise, not poor diet, was the main cause of the obesity epidemic in Australian children, a Federal Liberal frontbencher claimed yesterday. Parliamentary secretary for health Christopher Pyne said while the average calorie intake for children had risen slightly, the most radical change in recent years had been a decline in school sport and physical activity. More...

Natural solution to weighty issue

It is not the role of Government or legislation to replace parents or act as the overbearing relative in the home. Government shouldn't have a place set at the family dining table, but it can assist parents, as can the food industry, in promoting healthy lifestyles. More...

New restrictions on the television advertising of food and drink products to children

Ofcom (UK) today published details of significant restrictions intended to limit children's exposure to television advertising of food and drink products high in fat, salt and sugar. Its conclusions follow extensive public consultation and a detailed programme of audience and focus group research, economic analysis and peer review of available scientific evidence. More...

Parents pan McDonald's pony giveaways

A MCDONALD'S television ad that offers a free plastic pony with children's meals has been panned by parents as the most manipulative commercial on television. The fast food giant has won the unenviable "Pester Power" gong for the second year running at The Parents Jury TV Food Advertising Awards. More...

Victoria sweet on school lolly ban

VICTORIA will become the first state to ban the sale of lollies in government schools. Victorian Education Minister Lynne Kosky today announced that all government schools would be asked to stop selling confectionary by the beginning of the 2009 school year. More...

Poor kids more likely to be fat - study

More than one in five students in grade six are fat, with poor children most at risk, a new study says. Researchers tested almost 200 children at 22 private and public primary schools across Adelaide. They measured body shape - including weight, waist measurement and skin-fold tests - checked physical activity and television viewing hours, and reviewed diet over three 24-hour periods. More...

Sport squeezed for extra class time

Schools are being accused of shunning sport and physical education despite the nation's worsening obesity crisis. Sports teachers are alarmed that students in year 10 are losing out on much-needed exercise because of crowded timetables and an extra emphasis on academic excellence. More...