02 December 2007

Report on the health of NSW children

NSW Minister for Health Reba Meagher today released preliminary data from the 2005-2006 Report on Child Health from the NSW Population Health Survey that provides information on the health status and behaviours of children aged up to 15 years across NSW.

Data released today focuses on the consumption of vegetables, fruit, milk and dairy products, levels of physical activity and levels of sedentary behaviour during leisure time and shows an overall positive trend in the take-up of health messages.

"The NSW Government is strongly committed to tackling the incidence of overweight and obesity among children, as evidenced by the healthy canteen strategy across NSW schools and the investment in a range of research projects to monitor the weight and wellbeing of children," said Ms Meagher.

"The preliminary data from this survey has shown that we are making progress on a number of fronts, but there are areas that need improvement regarding the diet of adolescents, and their activity levels."

For the first time, the Child Health Survey asked parents about their knowledge of the recommended levels of physical activity and maximum levels of sedentary behaviour for children.

While 47 per cent knew the recommended level of physical activity was 60 minutes or more each day, 96.3 per cent knew that the recommended level of sedentary behaviour during leisure time was two hours or less each day.

"There is evidence that sedentary behaviours such as television viewing are strongly associated with being overweight or obese and they also take up time that could be spent being more active," said Ms Meagher.

"It is recommended that children and adolescents should not spend more than two hours per day using electronic media for entertainment like TV or computers particularly during daylight hours.

"The NSW Government will continue targeting parents and young people to embrace and adopt good nutrition and physical activity practices," said Ms Meagher.

Major health trends identified in the Report, which will be published later this year, include:

• Number of children eating the recommended number of vegies each day (two serves for children aged 4-7 years and three serves for children aged 8 years and over) has almost tripled from 13 per cent in 2001/02 to 38.2 per cent in 2005/06.
• Most significant was the 2 to 8 year age group that jumped from 16.4 per cent to 44.9 per cent.
• Recommended fruit consumption (one serve for children aged 4-11 years, and three serves for children aged 12 years and over) among children aged 2 to 8 years also increased significantly from 79.3 per cent in 2001/02 to 92.5 per cent in 2005/06.
• The proportion of children consuming the recommended dairy intake each day has increased significantly between 2001/02 (53.0 per cent) and 2005/06 (71.1 per cent).
• The increase was significant in both the 2-8 year age group (from 58.0 per cent to 84.5 per cent) and the 9-15 year age group (from 47.3 per cent to 59.4 per cent).
• Overall, 25.6 per cent of children aged 5-15 years met the recommended levels of physical activity.
• A significantly lower proportion of children aged 9-15 years (21.2 per cent) met the recommended levels of physical activity, compared with children aged 5-8 years (34.3 per cent).
• Overall, 84.4 per cent of children aged 5-15 years were sedentary for two or more hours a day during leisure time.
• A significantly higher proportion of children aged 9-15 years (88.2 per cent) were sedentary for 2 or more hours a day during leisure time, compared with children aged 5-8 years (75.2 per cent).

The survey also looked at patterns of junk food consumption and found:

• 33.4 per cent of children consumed soft drink or cordial daily
• 9.3 per cent of children consumed takeaway food more than once a week
• 15.5 per cent of children consumed hot fried potato products (such as hot chips or french fries or wedges or fried potatoes) more than once a week
• 45.9 per cent of children consumed potato crisps or salty snacks more than once a week
• 48.0 per cent of children consumed processed meats more than once a week.

"Take away foods are typically higher in fat, sugar and salt than foods prepared in the home," said Ms Meagher.

"While there are many pressures on parents' time, encouraging adolescents to prepare and eat more home cooked meals is another way parents can make a difference to overweight and obesity rates," said Ms Meagher.

The 2005-2006 Report on Child Health from the NSW Population Health Survey is the third in a series of biennial reports produced about the health of children in NSW, the first in 2001. The full Report will be available in January 2008.

For further information about good food habits, and daily physical activity for children, go to the NSW Health Healthy Kids website at www.healthykids.nsw.gov.au

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