Kids in poor suburbs are still obese
Obesity is still a major problem in children in low-income areas, despite other parts of New Zealand appearing to be winning the battle of the bulge.
Between 2010 and 2016, the rate of obesity among 4-year-olds declined in the majority of communities but often by less than 1 per cent, research published this week in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health shows.
Led by Dr Sheree Gibb from the University of Otago, the researchers found that children living in high-income areas such as Queenstown were less likely to be overweight than their counterparts in lower income areas.
Using data from the Ministry of Health’s B4 School Check Programme, alongside ethnicity and deprivation information, they found a third of the variation in obesity prevalence between communities could be explained by the socioeconomic and urban composition of the community.
A further 10 per cent could be explained by the ethnic composition of communities.
‘‘[It] suggests that the community in which a child lives is a particularly strong predictor of their obesity risk.’’
Health and fitness motivator David Letele – also known as the Brown Buttabean – has seen the prevalence of childhood obesity firsthand while working in some of the lowest income areas in the country.
He said the research team’s findings were unsurprising.
‘‘In the areas we work in, like South Auckland, you’re hard-pressed to find a healthy feed ... you’re bombarded with fast-food, liquor stores, everything.
‘‘There’s no McDonalds in Mission Bay but there’s a lot of them in South Auckland; there’s a definite difference.’’
Having once weighed in at 210 kilograms, Letele now helps turn other lives around in boot camps around Auckland and through his Buttabean Motivation page online.
While it had been mostly adults taking up the challenge, he said the advice and motivation given quickly trickled down to their children. ‘‘The kids are only eating what we’re giving them . . . we need to sow the seed while they are young so it’s also about educating the parents.’’
Letele applauded one suggestions made by the researchers to have more regionally-focused public health campaigns set up to target the most in-need areas.