* It's those pies again!

Kiwi food causes weight gain, says expert
03 April 2006
By KELLY ANDREW

The Government must make healthy food more affordable to avert a mounting obesity problem, an international expert says. Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force and a former chief food safety adviser to Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, met Health Minister Pete Hodgson, doctors and Maori health groups last week. He said there was an enormous and out of control public health crisis relating to being overweight. "The problem has been you have always assumed if anyone gets fat it's their own problem. But actually it's the poorest people who are fattest and have the biggest difficulties with diabetes."

The food industry was selling food in larger quantities and with a higher fat and sugar content, and fruit, vegetables and grains had become less affordable. "You've manipulated, with Government approval and huge grants in the past, the whole of the industry, and the way in which you work, and live, and the foods you serve up in New Zealand are beautifully designed to guarantee that most people are putting on weight."

Maori and Pacific Island communities were particularly at risk, with many being struck by type 2 diabetes at a younger age and having obesity rates on a par with the United States, he said. Ten per cent of New Zealand children and 21 per cent of adults are obese, and health experts estimate 1.5 million Kiwis can be classed as overweight or obese. Type 2 diabetes is directly related to a high-fat diet and excess weight, and its incidence is increasing.

Professor James said if nothing was done, hospital services would eventually not be able to cope with the number of casualties from the obesity epidemic. It was not enough to tell people to change their diet. The Government should change food pricing so that unhealthy foods were more expensive and "good" food was cheaper.

Government departments and other organisations supported by the Government should be required to provide high quality, healthy food to staff. Policies and regulations should be introduced to protect children, including restricting advertising of unhealthy food, and preventing schools selling soft drinks, chocolate, and other junk food.

Mr Hodgson agreed that action on obesity was urgently needed. Success would come from community and family measures, such as walking buses for children and "green prescriptions" for exercise from GPs. The professor was in New Zealand for five days before leaving to attend a World Health Organisation conference in Fiji.