Rising costs of caring for patients suffering from obesity and diabetes are set to cripple New Zealand's health system.
Figures show that 125,000 people had diabetes in New Zealand in 2005. Of these, 90 percent of people were diagnosed with type 2, the one commonly linked to obesity.
Ministry of Health projections suggest this figure will increase by a staggering 80 percent by 2011.
The Health Committee delivered its report to Government on the Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes last week.
The committee received 312 submissions from health providers, overseas experts, and food industry groups.
Taking 15 months to complete, the report highlights important health strategies needed to tackle the epidemic.
Inquiry chairperson Sue Kedgley said she was optimistic the Government will take the findings seriously.
The food industry and health care providers agree that prevention is better than cure but the two sectors differ on what needs to be done to reverse the current epidemic.
The Government has 90 days to respond and two years to act on the recommendations in the report.
Anti-obesity group Fight the Obesity Epidemic (FOE) has welcomed the recommendations, including a ban on advertising unhealthy food on television before 8.30pm, and a clear and effective labelling system such as 'traffic lights' to help consumers make healthy choices. FOE spokesperson Dr Robyn Toomath said that current government-led actions and voluntary efforts by industry are not enough.
"The time for asking the industry nicely is over. We need a ban on the marketing of unhealthy food and drinks to children." - Obesity Action Coalition director Leigh Sturgiss
"The Committee also recognises the importance of changing the environment to make healthy choices easier and cheaper.
"We agree with the report's observation that the food and beverage industry is not doing enough to prevent obesity, despite having an important role in causing it."
The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) also wants regulation now and said the report did not go far enough. Director Leigh Sturgiss said it was too late for education.
"We are bombarded by bad choices, by bad messages from fast food and beverage companies. They just want to make money and increase their market share," she said.
The OAC represents 70 organisations in NZ.
Inquiry For Obesity Submissions
"Industry codes only protect industry and their purpose never has and never will be to improve public health."
- Professor Boyd Swinburn, leading international expert on obesity "Simply asking people to change their behaviour is not sufficient and as a strategy for health promotion it has a long history of failure, especially for disadvantaged groups."
- Dr Robert Beaglehole, World Health Organisation
"It comes down to teaching people the basic principles of how much they consume versus how much they move."
- The Food Industry Group
"We live in a democracy, not a dictatorship, and thus we cannot tell people that they cannot eat some foods but eat lots of others."
- The New Zealand Food and Grocery Council
"Token efforts, particularly by the fast food sector, to produce and promote healthier options are typically undermined by more rigorous efforts to increase consumption of less nutritious items."
- The National Heart Foundation
"Children are bombarded with sophisticated marketing. Recently the Institute looked at over 200 breakfast cereals and of the 26 cereals marketed specifically to children we were not able to recommend any."
- Consumers' Institute
The National Party's associate health spokesman Jonathan Coleman said more regulation will not help, better education is needed, and added that more bureaucracy in the form of a commissioner is not the answer.
"If we're going to tackle this problem successfully, people are going to need the education and skills to make healthy dietary and lifestyle choices."
The OAC is particularly disappointed with the National Party's response.
"Despite clear evidence that poor diet is a leading risk factor for death, the National Party is calling for promotion and education instead of using proven, effective strategies such as regulation," Ms Sturgiss said.
Maori and Pacific Islanders feature prominently in the high-risk group. Many of the submissions believed the present initiative, the national HEHA strategy lacked leadership.
National Maori health provider Te Hotu Manawa Maori held the view that with no government leadership and strategic process HEHA is not as effective as it could be.
Tiatimu Maipi, Chairman of Raukura Hauroa O Tainui, said Maori have had these issues for some time, but the Government had only become concerned when obesity started affecting the general population.
Tainui is providing support for their local whanau. They opened a gym almost five years ago in Huntly to encourage locals to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
"The trouble with Government is they put everyone in the same box. We need to take a holistic approach to Maori issues, and we need more resources to address the problem," Mr Maipi said.
A large proportion of the submissions proposed that the promotion of less healthy food to children across all media types should be banned or strongly regulated by Government.
All submissions from industry groups opposed this view.
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