Posts

Obesity costing Western Australia $340 million per year

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News. com. au 
Obesity is costing Western Australia’s health system close to $340 million a year, with experts renewing calls for a ban on junk food advertising. A report by WA’s Department of Health finds that health conditions related to excess body mass were responsible for 9.3 per cent of all hospitalizations in 2016. The report projects that by 2026, such hospitalizations will have risen by 54 per cent – and the costs to the health system increased to $610 million – unless the problem is addressed.  Read the article here

Covid-19 school closings may spur childhood obesity, experts warn

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The Washington Post 

Childhood obesity experts are worrying that children — who often gain weight during the summer when they’re home — will add even more pounds, escalating an already serious public health problem. “Weight gained each summer accumulates year after year since children don’t usually lose it when they return to school,” says Andrew Rundle, who heads the childhood obesity research project within the Columbia (University) Center for Children’s Environmental Health. Read the article here

Coronavirus and obesity: Doctors take aim at food industry over poor diets

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Food Navigator

A cardiologist has blamed the food industry for normalizing ultra-processed junk food as more evidence emerges that obesity is the biggest factor for death from Covid-19 in under 50s according to a new study from the US Center for Disease Control based on 99 countries and 14 states from March. You can read the article here

Teens ‘especially vulnerable’ to junk food advertising, experts say

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ABC News

The inundation of junk food advertising is contributing to the rising rate of teen obesity — a public health crisis among a population that is “especially vulnerable” to the messaging, experts say. In 2016 alone, the food industry spent almost $14 billion on overall advertising to influence Americans’ food choices. The U.S. food system is the second-largest advertiser in the American economy, and views adolescents as a major market force, aggressively targeting them to build brand awareness, preference and loyalty. Read more here

 

Why Britain’s government should prioritise obesity to relieve NHS pressure

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Telegraph UK

An exploration of the enormous economic costs of obesity and some steps that can be taken to ensure health systems do not collapse under the burden of rising obesity-related cancer, diabetes and heart diseases.  Read the article here

Coke, crisps, convenience: how ads created a global junk food generation

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The Guardian

New research claims that blanket exposure to promotional material for unhealthy foods is encouraging children to eat badly around the world. 100 schoolchildren in seven countries were asked by researchers from University College London to film themselves and the food they eat for a study about the exposure of children to unhealthy diets. The accompanying policy-analysis shows that policy responses to address diet-related non-communicable diseases remain largely inadequate with responses anchored around individual behaviour change and personal responsibility.

You can read the article here

Healthy diet could save $50 billion in health care costs

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Science Daily

A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in collaboration with investigators at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, analyzed the impact of 10 dietary factors and estimated the annual cardiometabolic disease costs of suboptimal diet habits. The team concludes that suboptimal diet costs approximately $300 per person, or $50 billion nationally, accounting for 18 percent of all heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes costs in the US.

You can read the study here

Double burden of obesity, undernourishment stalks world: report

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CTV News

Low- and middle-income countries risk seeing their development progress slashed by the double-edged sword of obesity and undernutrition, both caused by a lack of access to affordable healthy food, a report in The Lancet warned. This “double burden of malnutrition”, affects more than a third of some 130 countries classed as low-and middle-income, and it is increasingly seen in the same household — most commonly an overweight mother and a child stunted by undernutrition living under the same roof.

You can read the report here

Brain differences may be tied to obesity, kids’ study says

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CBC News

In a federally-funded study involving 3,190 U.S. children ages 9 and 10, researchers found differences in the heaviest children’s brain scans – slightly less volume in the brain region behind the forehead that controls what are known as “executive function” tasks. “We don’t know which direction these relationships go nor do they suggest that people with obesity are not as smart as people at a healthy weight,” said editorial co-author Dr. Eliana Perrin.  Read the article here

Editorial: Saskatchewan needs to tackle obesity

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Saskatoon Star Phoenix + Regina Leder Post

The editorial board writes that the high rate of obesity in Saskatchewan should be a topic of conversation and that the government should lead efforts on tackling the problem.