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Obesity Epidemic in Australia Submission – David Gillespie, Author of Sweet Poison, (Penguin, 2008)

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Obesity Epidemic in Australia Submission – David Gillespie, Author of Sweet Poison, (Penguin, 2008) Obesity epidemic in Australia Submission – David Gillespie, author of Sweet Poison, (Penguin, 2008) The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children in Australia and changes in these rates over time; The latest AIHW data reveals that compared to two decades earlier, children aged 14-17 are almost 60% more likely to be overweight or obese. Thirty percent of the cohort are now overweight or obese.1 Overweight and Obese Children Australia 2014-15 35.0 30.0 25.0 20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 2–5 6–9 10–13 14–17 Cohort born 20 years ealrier Most recently born cohort Data is not available for children however 63.4% of Australians aged 15 or over are overweight or obese, making us the 6th fattest country in the OECD. 1 https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-statistics/behaviours-risk-factors/overweight-obesity/data Overweight or obese - Australia's place in the OECD 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 Just 40% of the Australian adult population was overweight or obese in 1980.2 The causes of the rise in overweight and obesity in Australia; Sugar. The fructose half of sugar is uniquely metabolized in the human body, producing insulin resistance which leads to weight gain.3 Simply put the body’s mechanism for appetite control4 is perverted by the presence of fructose. As sugar has increasingly become a significantly component of the Western Food supply, the diseases it causes have travelled along with it.5 2 https://theconversation.com/mapping-australias-collective-weight-gain-7816 3 Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19381015 4Effects of High-Fructose Diets on Central Appetite Signaling and Cognitive Function https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4429636/ 5 Chart based on figures from the USDA (sugar consumption) and the US NIH (obesity levels) Sugar (LHS) Obesity (RHS) 50 40% 45 35% 40 30% 35 25% 30 25 20% 20 15% 15 10% Percentage obeseof population Teaspoons of Sugar perperson perday 10 5% 5 0 0% 1962 1829 1836 1843 1850 1857 1864 1871 1878 1885 1892 1899 1906 1913 1920 1927 1934 1941 1948 1955 1969 1976 1983 1990 1997 2004 1822 The short and long-term harm to health associated with obesity, particularly in children in Australia; Obesity is a symptom not a disease. It is a symptom of the overconsumption of fructose. Fructose overconsumption leads to insulin resistance, fatty liver diesease and in turn Type II diabetes. In 1989, less than 1%6 of the Australian population had Type II Diabetes. By 2015, that number had more than quadrupled (to 4.4%).7 As a result, every day in Australia around 12 people will undergo a diabetes- related amputation. Uric Acid is a by-product of fructose metabolism. Excess uric acid destroys kidney function. Chronic kidney disease is now responsible for more than 1 in every 6 hospitalisations. And that rate has gotten very bad, very quickly. Between 2001 and 2015, hospital admissions for kidney dialysis alone more than doubled.8 6 https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/diabetes/diabetes-indicators/contents/summary 7 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.001~2014- 15~Main%20Features~Diabetes%20mellitus~12 8 https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease-compendium/contents/how- many-australians-have-chronic-kidney-disease Excess uric acid depresses nitric oxide production. Depleted nitric oxide results in hypertension,9 preeclampsia10 and heart disease11 (and erectile dysfunction12). The short and long-term economic burden of obesity, particularly related to obesity in children in Australia; Between 2005 and 2012, expenditure on the diseases caused by sugar consumption accelerated massively. There is no reason to suspect that this rate of growth will change. Within a very short timeframe, chronic disease expenditure will become unaffordable in the Australian health system.13 Percentage growth in hosptial expenditure 2005-2012 Australia Oral disorders Cardiovascular diseases Kidney and urinary diseases Blood metabolic disorders Endocrine disorders(a) 0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00 9 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170603 10 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24313856 11 https://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2016/08/24/heartjnl-2015-309223.full 12 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170606 13 https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/health-welfare-expenditure/australian-health-expenditure-demographics- disease/data The effectiveness of existing policies and programs introduced by Australian governments to improve diets and prevent childhood obesity; Self-evidently, all existing policies and programs have failed to arrest the crisis. This is because none of them focus on controlling (or eliminating) sugar consumption. Evidence-based measures and interventions to prevent and reverse childhood obesity, including experiences from overseas jurisdictions; Removing sugar from the diet reverses obesity and the chronic diseases associated with it. In one recent study conducted at University of California, 43 obese children were placed on a diet identical to their normal diet except sugar was reduced from 28% to 10% (and the calories were substituted with starch). Over the 10 days of the study, blood pressure, glucose tolerance and insulin resistance improved and on average the children lost 1kg in body weight. It was a short pilot study but it demonstrated that simply reducing sugar content (without reducing content) improved all relevant metabolic markers and caused weight gain.14 The study was used to support the recent recommendation from the American Heart Association, that sugar intake in children be limited to 25 grams or less per day.15 The role of the food industry in contributing to poor diets and childhood obesity in Australia; The processed food industry includes added sugar in almost all of its products. Food with sugar sells better than food without it because sugar is addictive. 16 It has resisted proper (front of pack labeling) so that consumers do not discriminate based on sugar content. It is largely responsible for ensuring that sugar is embedded throughout out food supply. It should not have any role in setting nutrition policy in Australia as that is akin to asking for the Tobacco industry’s input on tobacco regulation. 14 Isocaloric fructose restriction and metabolic improvement in children with obesity and metabolic syndrome https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4736733/ 15 Added Sugars and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Children: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/135/19/e1017.short 16 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/?&sa=U&ei=9ickVPqqEMi_ygPm14KoAw&ved=0CEUQFj AI&usg=AFQjCNErU766kM80sBTkc55HfZ9O-jNo9Q .
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