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Nutrition

Acting on Australia's weight

In the option strand, Contemporary food issues: Nutrition, you will learn about overnutrition and diet-related disorders, and the impact of advertising practices on food consumption. This tutorial focuses on the incidence of obesity in Australian society.

Recently there have been many articles in the newspapers about the high levels of obesity in the general population and the increasing levels of obesity found in children. The Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity (ASSO) and the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care held a joint symposium to discuss strategies for reducing the incidence of obesity. The result of the symposium was the report: Acting on Australia's weight. Following on from this the Government formed the National Obesity Prevention Group. It is anticipated that any plan for the future would focus on:

reducing the consumption of fat-rich foods
increasing physical activity.

Outcomes

This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcomes:

H3.2 The student independently investigates contemporary food issues.

Extract from Stage 6 Food Technology Syllabus© Board of Studies NSW 1999.

The statistics

Obesity and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are major public health concerns in Australia today. National surveys show that 45% of men and 29% of women are overweight and a further 18% are obese, with the prevalence in children and adolescents apparently increasing (NHMRC 1997 in Tapsell, 2002: 497).

The United States is the most obese nation in the world with Australia coming a close second. While one of the reasons for this increased incidence of obesity can be linked to technological developments and reduced physical activity. Another reason is the increased availability of time saving food options which are often high in fat and sugar.

A less obvious reason can be traced back to our ancestors many hundreds of years ago. Our metabolisms are a result of survival of the fittest. "We all possess metabolisms moulded by famine, selected to protect us from starvation, and hence quite unsuited to our modern lifestyle." (Prentice. 2002: 1)

Fat in food and the obesity epidemic

Dietary fat is strongly implicated in the development of insulin resistance and obesity, both major public health problems today.

At the molecular level dietary fat is less well utilised (oxidised) as fuel than protein or carbohydrate, so when over consumption occurs fat is preferentially stored and the energy efficiency of this storage is high.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been shown to be more readily utilised for energy than longer chain saturated fatty acids (SFA)... SFA are obesogenic (promote fat cell proliferation), whereas dietary PUFA... may even protect against obesity. (Tapsell, 2002: 497)

As suppliers of food... the food industry has an important role to play in strategic food innovation... new foods need to be developed in manufactured categories that replace SFA with unsaturated fats (Zock and Kattan 1999). There may also be opportunities to incorporate new 'designer fats' that deliver benefits in fuel utilisation... (Tapsell, 2002: 497, 499)

Activity 1

Give examples of foods containing saturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Answer

Childhood obesity

Childhood obesity is on the increase, as Professor Ian Caterson commented in his presentation at the NSW childhood obesity summit:

Genes haven't changed, therefore the environment has changed:

the relative affluence of the population
the availability of food
urbanisation
alteration in food intake
reduced activity.
(Professor Ian Caterson, 2002)

To find out more about the issue of childhood obesity, visit the Childhood obesity web site. In particular select: Communique for a detailed document on the issue and Presentations for a copy of the Powerpoint presentations of some of the speakers, for example, Professor Ian Caterson and Rosemary Stanton.

Activity 2

Select Fact sheets and complete the following questions:

hat are the consequences for children or adolescents who are overweight or obese?
What are the two main causes of obesity?
Summarise the healthy eating suggestions found in the fact sheet to simple, easy to remember bullet points.

Answers

Portion size

One of the reasons that food intake across the population has increased is because many meals are eaten outside the home where there is little control over portion size. How often have you eaten out and found the serving size is just too much and you've eaten a bit more than you really wanted? Or, have you ever been enticed to buy more than you want because it's good value for money? The quality of food from fast food outlets is fairly similar. "The only way to get a competitive edge is to cut profits or offer more food." (Shrapnel, 2002: 2) Food, in terms of the total budget is relatively cheap, so often more food is offered:

jumbo size
extra topping
more cheese
two for the price of one.

They're all things you've seen or heard to advertise fast food.

What can the food industry do?

With the increase in public and government concern about the obesity epidemic, it may be time for the food industry to change direction. When the wine industry was under similar pressure they responded by encouraging the consumption of smaller quantities of better quality product, the result was increased profit and a better message to the public.

"Can we expect such a response from the fast food industry? Eat less, eat better nicely reflects our nutrtiional aspirations but is it a recipe for profitability in the fast food industry? Can quality win over quantity in the mass market for inexpensive food?" (Shrapnel, 2002: 2)

Dietary restraint and weight control

While increasing physical activity and modifying food intake will help weight reduction the consistency of the pattern of eating is also significant. Eating a lot one day and not much the next disrupts "appropriate appetite regulation". (Mela, 2002: 9) If people have consistent regular patterns of eating they are less likely to eat for emotional reasons. If diet control is rigid there tends to greater weight control problems, if the person eats too much they tend react by eating even more. More flexible control of food intake includes things like:

forward planning meals
limiting portion sizes
eating slowly
compensating for the extra food eaten by eating a little less next meal.

The approach is gentler and more likely to result in changes to eating habits.

References

Mela, D 2002, "Dietary restraint and weight control", Perspectives: Nutrition news and views, Issue 14, Unilever Australasia, p. 9.

Prentice, A 2002, "Shaped by famine: our ancient metabolism in a modern world", Perspectives: Nutrition news and views, Issue 15, Unilever Australasia, p. 1.

Shrapnel, B 2002, "Portion distortion" (editorial), Perspectives: Nutrition news and views, Issue 15, Unilever Australasia, p. 2.

Tapsell, L C 2002, "Fat in food and the obesity epidemic", Food Australia, Vol. 54, No. 11, p. 497-499.