24 May 2006

Soft Drinks to be Banned from Schools as Child Obesity Rises

The NSW Government has moved to ban soft drinks from school canteens following the findings of a new health report that details a disturbing rise in the levels of childhood obesity.

The Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey (SPANS) - involving 93 schools state-wide and almost 5,500 students aged between 5 and 16 - is the most comprehensive survey into the exercise and eating habits of young people ever conducted in Australia.

It was released today by the NSW Premier, Morris Iemma. He was joined by Minister for Health, John Hatzistergos and the Minister for Education and Training, Carmel Tebbutt.

"The SPANS report found that children are more active today than they were in 1997, but the incidence of overweight and obese children is rising by an alarming one per cent every year," Mr Iemma said.

"Our children are getting bigger because of a combination of too much high calorie food with no nutritional value, and not enough exercise to burn off those extra calories.

"One glass of soft drink contains almost 10 teaspoons of sugar, and this survey shows that almost six in 10 boys and four in 10 girls drink more than one glass of soft drink a day.

"Banning these drinks will support our other strategies, such as Healthy Canteens, which restrict fatty foods and those high in sugar, and reduce the amount of empty calories our kids are eating and drinking."

Ms Tebbutt said the ban - to be enforced by term one 2007 - will eliminate the sale of sugar sweetened drinks such as soft drinks, energy drinks, flavoured mineral waters and sports drinks.

"These drinks are in the red foods class, that class of foods that are high in sugar with minimal nutritional value," Ms Tebbutt said.

"By banning them we are looking to set an example to parents about what their children should and shouldn't be consuming."

Minister Hatzistergos said some of the more disturbing findings of the SPANS report include:

• Children as young as 15 years old showing signs of diabetes, liver damage and heart disease - chronic disease not usually seen until people are in their 40s;
• Almost 25 per cent of children in NSW are overweight or obese, with the rate as high as 33 per cent in boys and girls aged 9 -12;
• Up to 30 per cent of older students eat junk food at least four times a week;
• Up to 40 per cent of high school students don't eat breakfast, and almost 15 per cent of all children don't eat dinner;
• Children who stay still for long periods are likely to become overweight, with three quarters of high school girls and two thirds of high school boys watching more than two hours of TV or playing computer games each day; and
• Rural children were significantly more active than urban students.

Mr Hatzistergos said the results did show improvements in children's activity levels, with 75 per cent of Year 2 to Year 10 students getting at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day.

He joined the Premier and Ms Tebbutt in urging parents to monitor their children's eating habits in the interest of their long-term health.

"If the concerning trend towards overweight and obesity continues, the consequences could include chronic disease and ultimately premature death," Mr Hatzistergos said.

"Parents and carers are important influences of children's eating and exercise habits and NSW Health will continue to develop initiatives to help them tackle the problem.

"There are some subtle lifestyle changes that can be made immediately that will have huge benefits to children's health.

"Missing breakfast and eating dinner in front of the TV are linked to childhood obesity. I would encourage families to eat breakfast every morning and try to eat dinner at the table together every night."

Mr Hatzistergos said NSW Health had channelled $4 million towards childhood obesity initiatives such as:

• $1.2 million per annum for 5 years to the Hunter New England Childhood Obesity Prevention Program - Australia's largest ever childhood prevention obesity trial;
• $1.1 million for on going research with internationally recognised centres such as the NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity, NSW Centre for Physical Activity and Health and NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Sydney;
• $600K to the Schools Program including the highly successful Healthy Canteens strategy and the NSW Schools Sports Foundation;
• $150K to promote healthy behaviours including supporting the Local Government Active Communities Grants Programs;
• $200K for the NSW Health Breastfeeding policy including funding for the Australian Breast Feeding Association; and
• $130K on the Premier's Council for Active Living www.pcal.nsw.gov.au

For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au