How to Improve the Australian Diet

According to the National health survey, in 2014-15, 63.4% of Australians aged 18 years and over were overweight or obese that 27.9% of population were obese (about 5 million people), this number has constantly increasing for a decade (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Generally speak, obesity is able to increase the risk of type 2

The Queensland Government 'Healthier. Happier ' campaign is a key element of the Queensland Government 's strategic approach to address the critical health issue of obesity in Queensland (Queensland Health, 2014). Three million Queenslanders will be overweight or obese by 2020, and overweight and obesity are the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and some musculoskeletal conditions (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016). Based on these current trends, the 'Healthier.Happier ' campaign aims is to address obesity in Queensland by encouraging the adoption of healthier lifestyle behaviours. This essay will critique the 'Healthier.Happier ' campaign by analysing the health promotion strategies and the underlying assumptions used in developing the campaign, as well the reviewing the implications of such strategies.

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) is a guide which assists everyday Australians with the right proportion of foods which they select and consume. The AGHE was established by the Australian Government to provide everyday Australians with a guide to developing a regular and healthy diet. The Australian Government has formulated, designed and structured this guide in a simple and effective way in the form of a pie chart to impart the important information in an appealing way.

Childhood obesity is a condition involving the excessive accumulation of body fat that has negative effect on the health of the young individual. It is a worldwide epidemic affecting 1 in 4 Australian children (AIHW, 2012). There are many factors that could lead to a child becoming obese, including, the general lifestyle of their family (Diet and physical activity), their communities attitude towards health and wellbeing as well as their own knowledge on healthy habits. Advertising for healthy living in Australia is vital to get the message out to parents and children of how important healthy habits are. Campaigns such as 2 Fruit & 5 Veg and the Crunch & Sip programs in primary school come across in a way that is easy for kids to understand

Healthy Together Victoria (HTV) is a project that is funded by the State Government of Victoria and the Australian Government via the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health (NPAPH). This project aims to improve Victorian’s health by applying integrated health promotion approach. This program is a complex systems approach to help to reduce the risk factors of chronic disease such as obesity and diabetes-type 2 among Victorian people. This approach focuses on addressing health risk factors that impact on people’s health and wellbeing, families and communities. The purpose of HTV is to create the health promoting environments in the place where Victorian spend almost their time such as school, workplace, shops, child care centers, food court, and sporting clubs. These are places where Victorian study, live, work and play (Healthy Together Victoria (HTV), n.d).

Obesity is rapidly becoming a major health issue throughout NSW. In Australia 63.4% percent of people were cut off for obesity making that more than half the population making obesity a major threat to individual’s health’s. The NSW health obesity strategy is a government organisation aiming to help individuals live healthier lifestyles by providing one on one help and assistance with their specific needs. The strategy also provides tailored programs for different groups of individuals who may have higher or lower levels or health due to their social situation, economic status e.g. (ATSI) this initiative was put into place and aims to over time, decrease the statistics of chronic illness related to obesity and its long-term health effects,

In April 2018, ABC’s Four Corners program aired an episode about the rising obesity levels in Australia and the link between high processed foods, mainly sugars, and the rising obesity trend. Health professionals are calling this rise the “Obesity Epidemic” as from 2017, 63% of adults and 27% of children are above the healthy weight level compared to 1988 where only 10% of people were considered overweight (ABC, 2018). Many believe the rise in obesity levels are due to the rise of cheap fast food products, an intake of excess added sugar e.g. soft drinks, and a lack of physical exercise. This “obesity epidemic” is the leading health issue in the western world and can have great effects on a a persons health and can act as a catalyst to more

More than half of the Australian adults rate their health as excellent or very good. When comparing the Australia with other developed nations, Australia performs strongly across many important health indicators. When considering about the life expectancy of the Australian women, it is in the third highest globally. Death rates in Australia have decreased in over the last two decades for both males and females in all age groups. Infant mortality plays an important indicator for the general health and wellbeing of a population. Over the last two decades, infant mortality rate was high for both males and females, but between 1991- 2010 it both declined up to a significant amount. Despite from positive signs, there are high numbers of over-weight

As weight related health issues rises in Australia so does the cost to continue to provide and sustain accessible health care and government subsidies to effectively deal with the compounding comorbid health issues. A challenge for the health care system is relieving the impact felt by health care system, with the increase in weight-related illness and costs this will become more difficult. The total estimated cost resulting from being overweight or obese in 2008, was $58.2 billion, the Federal Government covered 34.3% of these health care costs resulting from weight-related medical expenses, the State Government covered 5.1%, the rest was covered by individuals (29.4%), family and friends (19.2%) and society (11.8%) (Access Economics, 2008), this cost increases as the trend increases and will soon be difficult to sustain. Individuals who are overweight or obese have been linked to longer hospital stays, an increase in medical treatments, are more likely to be transferred between hospitals and to die from complications (Hauck & Hollingworth, 2008). Longer hospital stays and an increase in being treated medically place an increased cost on the health system to treat these individuals. If an individual loses weight the average medical costs is shown to decreases as well (Colagiuri et al., 2010), showing potential cost benefits for treating overweight or obese

Change4Life was England’s’ first national public health and social marketing campaign, to address the rapidly increasing obesity rates for adults and children (1). It had been proposed as a three-year campaign, which, began in 2009 (1,2). It was aimed at the prevention of obesity, recruiting expertise from both academic and commercial sectors (1), adapting behavior change theory techniques to enhance public attention and national response. Change4Life had not been designed as a weight loss program nor treatment program but rather tackling the modifiable determinants experienced through modern day lifestyles (1,2). Prevention of obesity may further prevent cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease (1). Their targeted audiences for the first year were families and children under 11, in years two and three, the campaign had expanded their targeted audience to include at risk groups such as pregnant women and ethnic minorities (2). The slogan “eat well, move more, live longer”(2) was used alongside other materials to help people of England adapt small and sustainable changes to their daily living habits and hopefully will become of a significance long term- it includes diet, activity level and alcohol consumption (1). Several marketing approaches were adapted, these include, television, radio, digital social media, PR and direct marketing (1). Posters and leaflets were given out to public as free resource, free recipes, tools, tips and games are also available for free on their website to increase various engagement methods.

The eating habits of Australian individuals and families has changed considerably over the last 20 years. The food choices being made by Australians can be directly linked to their income and nutritional knowledge. Without following the correct recommendations, income and nutritional knowledge has the potential to dramatically impact upon individuals and family’s health and wellbeing.

Tackling obesity is a complex process that requires a proactive approach and interventions from the individual, society, local authorities, and public health service and partner organisation (PHE 2016f). In response to obesity as a public health issue, the government introduces no of policies, strategy and health campaign to tackle this problem, including Change4life campaign and Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A call to action on obesity in England (Foresight 2007). Chang4life is a public health campaign in England, which started in 2009 supported by the Department of Health to tackle growing problem of obesity (Change4life 2016). This was the first campaign to adopt a social marketing approach to address obesity by making significant improvements in an individual’s diet, being physically active and alcohol consumption to improve their health (NHS Choices 2016a).

Since ancient times, food has been a fundamental requirement for the survival of human being. Nowadays, in addition to solving the problem of hunger, safe and nutritious food becomes fundamental to human health. In Australia, a great variety of food is produced every year based on the diverse geography and climate, and this is helpful to the high level of food security. In order to create more social, economic and environmental benefits, it is necessary for Australia to meet the global challenges, such as food security, and seize the opportunities for the development of Australian food system. Addressing the challenges of food security will primarily require increased food production without further damage to the environment, and take other natural resources and social and economic factors into account. The rise of Asia will pose profound effects on the food system in Australia because of the expanding Asian middle class and growing markets with high-value food products. This will be an important opportunity for Australian food industry in the future. To seize this opportunity in the context of competition, Australia have to build on their strengths and develop the food production system. Thus, Australia’s first National Food Plan has been developed by Australian Government on the basis of Australia in the Asian Century White Paper and extensive public consultation.

In Australia “there has been an increase in the proportion of 5-17 year olds who were overweight or obese since 1995, with 25.7% of children overweight or obese in 2011-12.” (Better Health Channel, 2015). According to the ABS: In 2014-15, 63.4% of Australian Adults were overweight or obese (11.2 million people) similar to 62.8% in 2011-12 and 56.3% in 1995. Around 1 in 4 (27.4%) children aged 5-17 years were overweight or obese, compared to (25.7%) in 2011-12. (Abs.gov.au, 2016) Men and women living in inner regional, outer regional and remote areas of Australia are more likely to be overweight or obese, compared with men and women living in major cities. The disease has become a huge factor in causing other serious diseases and even sometimes death. “Obesity and other non-communicable diseases are now the world’s biggest killers, causing an estimated 35 million deaths each year, 60% of all deaths globally” (Better Health Channel, 2015).

In recent years obesity and diabetes have become one of the major challenge to Australia. Obesity is an abnormal collection of body fat, usually 20% or more of the total individual body weight. In simple words obesity can be defined as the cause of energy intake being greater than energy output (Energy Input>Energy output). Obesity is associated with increased risk of illness, disability, and death. Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that significantly affects the health of human beings. The recent research clearly shows that 4% of total Australians are victims of diabetes. Many people in Australia are affected by obesity. According to Australian government statistics 61% of Australian adults are overweight or obese. The World Health