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June 23, 2006
The latest National Health Survey tells us that 62 per cent of men and 45 per cent of women are overweight or obese, and the survey has previously declared the same of more than 25 per cent of Australian kids.And medical authorities warn us about a host of new medical disorders appearing in obese adolescents, including type-two diabetes, blood pressure, fatty liver, sleep apnoea and asthma. In 2003, the National Obesity Taskforce estimated the cost of obesity to be about $1.3 billion annually and "rising fast".
Welcome to the world of the junk food industry:
Spooner
Tony Cutcliffe, writing in The Age, connects the junk food industry to disadvantaged urban suburbs via the US chain of Krispy Kreme doughnut shops.
He says:
Studies of communities with high levels of disadvantage reveal a whole range of influences that render them ideal targets for a junk food fix. For example, limited private transport options and poor public transport services in disadvantaged areas directly correlate with low access to fresh food and grocery outlets. It's no coincidence that fast food outlets cluster at expensive and highly convenient transport centres, even now beckoning with the promise of 24/7 drive-through service.
He says that the commercial reality is that the disadvantage index and its causal companions of lower education, income and skills clearly identify communities that are far less likely to hear or heed these dire health warnings. This makes it abundantly clear that the obesity issue cannot be left at the door of the health departments: the onus also falls on planning instrumentalities that shape this "obesogenic" environment.
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