OUR nation is becoming so fat that we must now seriously consider introducing a new tax to try to get people to take better care of themselves.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Few of the health messages are getting through and Australians continue to opt for unhealthy lifestyles when it comes to diet and lack of exercise.
With almost a third of the population now considered to be obese, leading health groups are lobbying the federal government to consider a tax on junk food and soft drinks laden with sugar.
With the increasing burden on the health care system the Consumers Health Forum, the Obesity Policy Coalition, the Public Health Association of Australia and the Heart Foundation want the Abbott government to act before it’s too late.
They want tough measures introduced to end the free-for-all that exists now in the marketing and advertising of junk food and drink.
New research indicates that almost 80 per cent of people in Australia believe that if children’s intake of sugary food and drinks is not lowered, they could end up with shorter lifespans than their parents.
The same percentage of people believe bad eating habits are a major problem for Australian children.
The elephant in the room for many Australian families is not fat, it is sugar. Shoppers who can’t be bothered reading food labels are conned into thinking that low-fat foods are healthy when the opposite is true because they are laden with sugar, now recognised as the number one contributor to soaring obesity rates in the Western world.
Fast action on this issue is critically needed and the sooner the health minister and other government agencies can formulate a comprehensive national strategy to fight fat the better.
Measures must include the banning of marketing and advertising of fat, sugar and salt-drenched products to children through television and social media in particular.
If Australia does not listen to this latest advice from its health sector the country will face massive increases in heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other obesity-related conditions.
We are facing a crisis that is threatening a generation of young Australians.