(25-05-06) School weigh-ins to fight obesity

Elizabeth Gosch and Adam Cresswell
May 25, 2006
HEALTH Minister Tony Abbott has backed a plan to weigh all school children to check whether they are overweight.
In Britain, pupils are to be weighed and measured when they start school at four or five years old and again when they finish Year 6 at 10 or 11.
If they fall into the overweight or obese range, parents will be sent a letter warning of the long-term health problems they face.
Mr Abbott said Australians needed to be more conscious of weight-related health problems. "I would like the states to consider (this idea)," he said, adding he believed patients should be weighed at GP visits.
Australian nutritionist Catherine Saxelby welcomed the plan. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," Ms Saxelby told The Australian.
"We've got to do something to rein this in or otherwise we'll end up with 50 per cent of children overweight rather than the 25 per cent we have now."
Recent figures revealed the number of obese children in Britain between 11 and 15 has almost doubled over the past 10 years. In Australia, a 2004 study found that 25 per cent of children aged 5 to 16 were overweight.
Ms Saxelby supported the British plan if it were handled sensitively, and education and advice were provided with the letter.
NSW Health Department nutrition and physical activity manager Philip Vita said the state would not support moves to introduce the British model.
"It is a very important problem but are schools the best place to address the problem? We've already done a lot within schools on the issues of physical activity and healthy foods in canteens."
The West Australian Government was more open to the idea. Health Minister Jim McGinty said federal and state governments "are going to have to take a leading role to stop the tidal wave of obesity that is engulfing our children".

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au

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