Why we need to improve diets and address overweight and obesity

 

The state of Australian diets

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Improving the way food is made, labelled, sold and advertised in Australia can help to improve diets, prevent obesity and improve our population’s health.

Every Australian should be able to live in a community where healthy food is readily accessible and affordable. We should be supported to eat nourishing food and to be able to provide this for our families.

But the way the processed food industry creates, labels and markets their products undermines this and makes it challenging to eat a healthy diet.

As a result, many Australians do not eat a nutritious diet. For example:

  • Over 9 in 10 Australian adults and children don’t meet the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables.  
  • 72% of school age children exceed the recommended amount of sugar in their diet.
  • Almost a third of the energy in the diet of adults comes from energy-dense, nutrient poor foods, which are not part of a healthy diet.

For more detail on the state of Australians’ diets see the Obesity Evidence Hub.

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Australians living with overweight or obesity

The overconsumption of unhealthy food contributes to the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

More than one in four children are living with overweight and obesity, with a recent study projecting that one in two Australian children will be overweight or obese by 2050. Australia has almost two thirds of adults living with overweight and obesity, with higher rates in men than women. Globally Australia has the seventh highest proportion of adults with this risk factor compared to other OECD countries that measure this.

To find out more about current overweight and obesity trends in Australia please visit the Obesity Evidence Hub.

The link to chronic disease

Being above a healthy weight increases the risk of serious diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and thirteen different types of cancer. Not eating a healthy diet similarly increases the risk of chronic disease like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.

For more detail on the impacts of overweight and obesity on health outcomes visit the Obesity Evidence Hub.

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Burden of disease and the cost of overweight and obesity

The burden of disease measures the overall impact of diseases on people’s health and their quality of life.

Currently, overweight and obesity are the leading risk factor in Australia, contributing 8.3% of the total disease burden. Poor diets are the third highest risk factor and contribute to a further 5.4%.

Growing rates of overweight and obesity are not only costly for our community’s health and wellbeing, but also put financial pressure on our stretched health system.

Overweight and obesity was the most expensive risk factor for Australia’s health spending by disease in 2018-19, estimated at $4.3 billion. Overweight and obesity also have significant impacts on the Australian economy. In 2018, obesity alone cost the Australian community $11.8 billion, with direct healthcare costs accounting for $5.4 billion. This cost is projected to rise to $87.7 billion by 2032 if action is not taken.  

For diseases caused by poor diets and overweight and obesity much of the impact can be reduced by changing the food environment through implementing policies to support and promote healthy diets.

Visit the Obesity Evidence Hub to further understand the current burden of disease from overweight and obesity.

What can be done?

Food for Health Alliance advocates for governments to implement policies to change the way our food is made, labelled, sold and advertised to support healthy diets and prevent chronic disease.

Read more about our major areas of work.

  What we do

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Protecting children from unhealthy food marketing 

Learn about protecting children from the processed food industry’s unhealthy food marketing.

Improving baby & toddler foods

Learn about improving the composition, labelling and promotion of ready-made foods for babies and toddlers to support good health.

Improving food labelling

Labelling of packaged foods should provide accurate information that enables consumers to make choices in line with dietary guidelines. Learn about our work to improve food labelling.

Pricing measures for healthier diets

Pricing measures can promote healthier diets through encouraging reformulation by industry and by influencing the purchase and consumption of food and drinks.

National & international strategies

Learn about the frameworks and strategies that play an important role in changing the food environment to better support healthier diets.

Why we need to improve diets and address overweight and obesity

Improving the way food is made, labelled, sold and advertised in Australia can help to improve diets, prevent obesity and improve our population’s health.