Obesity remarks draw sharp response

WELLINGTON: Obesity, and whether or not it is a matter of personal responsibility, has emerged as a political football in the final week of the election campaign.

National Party leader Judith Collins has called obesity a weakness.

New Zealand has the thirdhighest adult obesity rate in the OECD and it is increasing.

Now, experts have condemned Ms Collins’ comments and explained why it is a complex health issue.

‘‘It is a very shallow and lazy way of thinking about obesity,’’ Auckland University global health and nutrition professor Boyd Swinburn said yesterday. ‘‘Nobody in the whole obesity research area with anything to do with it thinks that this is just a personal responsibility issue.’’

He said obesity was complex and needed to be approached with empathy, understanding and a deeper level of thinking.

One in three adult New Zealanders and one in 10 children are classified as obese.

Prof Swinburn said it was not just a matter of personal responsibility.

‘‘People are creatures of their environment.

‘‘The food environment is increasingly full of ultraprocessed foods, highly palatable foods made up of cheap ingredients full of fat and sugar and salt, and they’re readily available.

‘‘They’re heavily marketed . . . and so that’s what people end up eating.’’

Obesity is a major concern for Brian Betty, medical director for the College of GPs.

‘‘Genetics does play a role. Weight is actually very difficult to control.

‘‘Things like advertising to children from a very young age influences dietary behaviour and attitudes to food, which can have a detrimental effect as they become older.’’

He said there was a bulging cost surrounding obesity, including diabetes rates, which accounted for ‘‘11% of the total health budget’’, cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

Obesity in children is also associated with musculoskeletal problems, asthma and psychological problems, including body dissatisfaction, poor selfesteem and depression.

All experts agree that something must be done urgently to address the epidemic — but there is no one solution.

‘‘Obesity does need to be one of the top lifts for health interventions in this country,’’ Dr Betty said.

‘‘We need more support at the frontline...

‘‘We need access to medication.

‘‘We also need society to intervene with things like advertising for children, the approach we take in schools, education, a whole lot of different approaches to tackling the problem.’’

Health Coalition Aotearoa is a group of more than 50 health organisations which recently rated political parties on their health action plan.

It found only The Opportunities Party and the Green Party ‘‘actually come up to scratch’’ with targeted policies around healthy food and addressing obesity, Prof Swinburn said.

He called for government intervention to change New Zealand’s food environment, which had been contributing to the explosion of ultraprocessed food and drink. — RNZ