A GRIFFITH paediatrician has grave concerns about the region’s high rate of obesity.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Dr Atul Misra said he was not surprised by a study that placed the Riverina at the top of the state’s fat list.
He said at least one in five children in the district were obese.
“One in four to five children is obese, requiring intervention,” Dr Misra said.
He said there was one case of a 13-year-old female from the district who was morbidly obese and had to attend a clinic in Sydney for intervention. Dr Misra said a healthy weight for a child her age would have been between 50 and 60 kilograms but she weighed close to 100 kilograms.
“That child was morbidly obese,” he said.
Dr Misra said junk food and sedentary lifestyles were to blame for the region’s obesity epidemic.
He said he rejected claims obesity was genetic.
“I often tell people obesity doesn't run in the family, it’s because no one runs in the family,” he said.
Dr Misra said families often chose junk food because they were time poor and allowed children to spend time inside watching television and playing computer games. He said all children needed daily physical activity to remain healthy.
Dr Misra said water should be the main drink consumed by children, not soft drink or other sugary drinks.
He said education was the key and believed if more food outlets were forced to include calories, fat and sugar content on food it may result in people making better choices.
The study, released by the Heart Foundation, said 81 per cent of people were inactive and did not complete just 12 minutes of vigorous physical activity each day of the week.
The Heart Foundation said it was “shameful” the government committed 1.7 per cent of the health budget to prevention of health problems, compared to New Zealand’s 7 per cent and Canada’s 5.9 per cent.
Obesity has been linked to heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and even cancer.
Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) health promotion manager Christine May said health problems such as obesity had become “normalised” in public thinking.
Mrs May said the MLHD had targeted schools for education programs about healthy eating, but was up against constant exposure to obesity in wider society.