Dear Australian Government,
There’s no way to pussyfoot around this, so we’re just going to get to the point: what exactly are you planning to do about the epidemic levels of obesity in this country? Anything?
In statement released today, president of the Australian Medical Association Dr Michael Gannon said that obesity was the biggest threat to public health in this country. He implored you to take action and implement a childhood obesity strategy immediately.
Right now, more than 60 per cent of Aussie adults are classified overweight or obese. That means the majority of the country is at heightened risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, to name a few.
Even more worrying is the fact that more than a quarter of children are overweight or obese. A quarter! And up to 95 per cent don’t even eat enough vegetables.
There’s no point just talking about it – something needs to be done. The AMA has even gone to the trouble of recommending a range of initiatives for you to consider, including better food labelling, banning junk food marketing to children and subsidising fresh produce.
And a sugar tax.
You see, overconsumption of sugar is also epidemic in this country. We eat double the World Health Organization’s recommendation of six teaspoons of sugar a day. Teenage boys have been found to eat around 38 teaspoons of sugar a day. Most of it comes from sugar-sweetened drinks.
Have you been at all swayed by the shonky science funded by the industry to downplay the effects of sugar? Here’s a brief rundown of the truth:
- One serve of soft drink a day increases risk of type 2 diabetes by 26 percent.
- One serve of soft drink a day increases risk of cardiovascular disease by 35 per cent.
- One serve of soft drink a day can increase your risk of stroke by 22 per cent.
- One serve of soft drink a day can increase your risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
- Dropping 40 per cent of sugar in drinks may prevent 300,000 new cases of diabetes.
We’re not scientists, but we’re pretty sure it’s not the water or bubbles causing all the problems.
As Sarah has said, “Soft drink is a low hanging fruit – few dispute that they are crappy contributions to life. Plus, liquid sugar is the most dangerous – it’s a large and fast dumping to the liver, which is what causes the health issues as the liver struggles to deal with such a large and fast injection.”
It’s more critical than ever to prevent the consumption of these drinks. If anything, it will relieve some of the $8.6 billion annual burden of obesity, won’t it?
For the sake of the nation’s future, we urge you to take a stand and at least seriously consider the initiatives proposed by the AMA. And hey, it’s not like it’s the great unknown – the UK hasn’t even rolled out its sugar tax yet, and already supermarkets are drastically reducing the sugar in their products.
We hope you can see your responsibility in turning this health crisis around.
Sincerely,
The I Quit Sugar Team
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