Prevalence and Impact of Obesity in Australia
The rise in obesity for many decades has been dramatic globally, especially in Australia and the western world. The rates of obesity as well as overweight in Australia have been gradually climbing. Prevalence of obesity has become one of the major focus for the federal and state governments in Australia and globally (Miljkovic et al., 2015). The government of Australia has recognized it as one of the nine priority areas of public health. For instance, in 2015, 27.5% infants and 63.4% adults were classified as obese or overweight, with the models estimating vital rises in the prevalence of serious overweight or obesity by 2026 (Body Mass Index greater than 35) (Croyden et al., 2018). The economic, social and health impacts of obesity are vital, entailing enhanced risk of lifestyle diseases such as heart-related diseases, cancer, as well as type diabetes, and a decreases in the quality of life. It should be noted that in 2008, the economic cost of the overweight was approximated at $57.3 billion, entailing government subsidies, cost of productivity, and loss of wellbeing. An increasing body of literature recognize the effect that changes in the food setting, entailing the enhanced availability, promotion of energy-rich and dense, foods, increased affordability, food and beverages poor in nutrients are having on dietary behaviors as well as rates of obesity and overweight.
It is key to note that unhealthy diet has been considered as one of the major preventable lifestyle risk factors for world disease burden (Sainsbury et al., 2018). Therefore, from the economic as well as health viewpoint, there is a serious need to prevent obesity and promote the healthiness of diets. A NOURISHING framework has been developed by the World Cancer Research Fund international to pinpoint the numerous regulatory framework which governments should undertake, that is, food environment, behavior and lifestyle change, and food systems (Sainsbury et al., 2018). The government of Australia at the federal and state level have given priority strategies to behavior changes, investing public health funds into environment-based programs and education campaigns for prevention of obesity at the individual and community level (Croyden et al., 2018).
However, the question that lingers on the mind of the people is what regulatory measure the government has adopted to promote obesity prevention such as promoting healthier food and beverage setting as well as enhanced individual and community level dietary lifestyles? It should be noted that Australian Capital Territory, the New South Wales, as well as the South and Queensland adopted the mandatory kilojoule signage in fast foods hotels, even though more states have not taken action. This paper will critically discuss the interventions or health promotions to minimize or reduce obesity.
NOURISHING Framework and Priority Areas
It should be noted that reducing the prevalence of obesity will require a coordinated interventionist and whole-of-the-society approach as opposed to single intervention or policy.
Australians are usually confused concerning nutrition requirements, labeling of beverage and food, as well as the relationship between overconsumption of food and beverage and obesity. Inadequate consumer comprehension in the market for beverages and food especially processed beverages and food is a well-known case of market failure (Hernández-F et al., 2019). Thus, giving solutions to market failures which lead to overconsumption of unhealthy beverages and food should be given priority by different governments especially the Australian government. It should be noted that Australian government should introduce food and beverage tax which lead to the third-party cost of overweight or obesity to minimize consumption. Moreover, the public has the right to receive better information concerning healthy food and beverage and the nexus between health and obesity. The Australian government can also minimize the supply of unhealthy beverages and food as well as raise the supply of healthy beverage and food via regulation and guidelines. I want to state that a tax levied on sugar-sweetened beverages like cordials, fruit drinks and soft drinks is one of the best ways of reducing prevalence of obesity among the people.
Introduction of such taxes will significantly and relatively minimize the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, raise the retail price nearer to the social cost as well as incentivizes healthy food and beverages (Previte & Gurrieri, 2015). It should be noted that almost all the sugar-sweetened beverages do not contain nutritional value and lead to a great share of added sugar consumption particularly among the youths (Pomeranz et al., 2018). Empirical research studies have highly linked sugar-sweetened beverages to weight gain, overweight or obesity, as well as the linked health problems. Sugar-sweetened beverages have been linked to contribute an approximated 11% to Australia’s overweight and obesity health problems. Therefore, a new tax on food sugar sweetened beverages is justified in Australia due to market failure.
The causes of obesity are usually multifactorial. At the individual level, obesity can arise due to non-modifiable features like family history and genetics, modifiable lifestyles like physical activity and dietary intake, as well as social and economic situations like poverty (Belton et al., 2019). Overweight or obesity results from imbalance in energy, that is, too few calories burned relative to too many calories in the body. A host of factors determine how much energy (calorie) individuals burn every day. However, the major verified and modified factor has been identified as the amount of physical activity individuals do daily. It should be noted that keeping physically active helps individuals to lose weight or stay at a healthy weight. Moreover, it may minimize the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and boost moods and reduce stress. Sedentary lifestyles increases the prevalence of obesity in individuals (Caceres et al., 2018). Physical inactivity has been considered as one of the major cause of prevalence of obesity in Australia and is normally targeted for health promotion at community and individual level because it can be modified (Semlitsch et al., 2019).
Regulatory Measures to Promote Healthiness of Diets
It should be noted that advertising and promotion of beverage and food to individuals and public are rife across the globe and are influencing the consumption pattern of the consumers. A vital amount of the marketing is usually for food and beverage products having high content of salt, sugars, or fat, consumption in which have the potential to increase the risk of obesity, overweight or other non-communicable diseases (Healey, 2015). Obese people are at higher risk of suffering from adverse health problems like asthma, cancer, hypertension, type 2 disease and other forms of cardiovascular diseases, liver disease and sleep disorders (Ayers, Boughanem & Macías-González, 2019). There has been public support for the minimization and regulation to decrease exposure to unhealthy beverages and food advertising not only in Australia but also globally especially in broadcast advertising. The government should come up with stringent laws and policies to limit unhealthy beverage and food advertising and promotion during times when young people are watching television (Olsen et al., 2013). Moreover, the government should also put limitations on unhealthy beverage and food marketing to young people on the social media.
There are increasing body of knowledge and literature which pinpointing the direct causal relationship between marketing exposure as well as taste preference, purchase preferences and intake of unhealthy beverages and food by the public (Drewnowski et al., 2016). Moreover, there has been increasing parental concerns regarding the huge quantity of unhealthy beverages and food marketing channeled to young people on conventional media like television. Therefore, as individual and public awareness concerning the adverse influence of beverage and food continues, it can be projected that support for the regulation and policy framework will remain to increase.
Elite sponsorship of sports has been acknowledged to achieve powerful engagement as well as greater reach with not only the young people but also the greater public via mass media and live spectatorship. It should be noted that over half of the Australians aged between 18-25 years attend more than one sporting occasion annually (Dixon et al., 2018). Moreover, about half of the population in the country watches sport on television during commercial free-to-air programs. Beverage and food industries usually exploit the advertising potential with widespread marketing of numerous sports via their governing institutions by industries encouraging unhealthy beverage, food, gambling as well as alcohol products. Different people have, thus, called for the establishment of regulatory guidelines to restrict such sports sponsorship (Sainsbury et al., 2018). Moreover, opportunities abound for healthcare organizations and government departments to capitalize on the sport sponsorship to reach out to the young people and public with well-defined and aligned healthier body weight and eating messages (Dixon et al., 2018). It should be noted that elite sport sponsorship entails numerous complementary adverting strategies like marketing at sporting events, logos on uniforms, product endorsement by celebrities in sports, etc. Empirical research studies have indicated that sport sponsorship can promote brand awareness, change brand image as well as raise the intentions to buy sponsor products especially unhealthy beverages and food (Pogorzelski, 2018).
Physical Inactivity and Health Promotions Strategies
Conclusion
Prevalence of obesity is increasing not only in Australia but also globally. There are different modifiable risk factors of obesity and overweight which if individually and publicly managed well can reduce the impacts of the disease. Physical inactivity has been a major contributor of non-communicable diseases including obesity. Health promotions strategies which are geared towards encouraging communities and individuals to regularly undertake physical activity will have a vital impact on the fight to reduce obesity in Australia. However, it should be noted that strategies to reduce adverse impacts of obesity should be done concurrently so that individuals and communities can live a healthy life.
References
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