Ontario doctors have launched an assault on obesity, saying society
should aggressively fight the epidemic using the tools that have made major
inroads in the battle against smoking.
Dr, Doug Weir, President of the Ontario Medical Association, walks past depictions of health warnings on fast foods following a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday October 23, 2012. Ontario's doctors have called for the introduction of new measures to help prevent premature deaths associated with obesity, including increasing taxes on junk food. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The campaign calls for graphic warnings — like the ones tobacco
companies must print on cigarette packages — on high-calorie, low-nutritional
value foods such as sugar-sweetened soft drinks, french fries and even fruit
juices. It also calls for higher taxes on sugary or fatty foods, lower taxes on
healthy foods, and restrictions on sales of junk foods in sports venues and
other recreational facilities used by children and teenagers.
The types of changes needed to fight obesity won’t come into effect
overnight, Dr. Doug Weir, president of the Ontario Medical Association,
admitted at a news conference announcing the campaign Tuesday. But Weir said
society needs to start addressing obesity or it will face epidemic levels of
weight-induced illnesses, including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some
cancers. “If we don’t do something about this now, we’re going to have a tidal
wave of the consequences of those conditions,” said Weir, a psychiatrist who
said he deals with issues related to childhood obesity on a regular basis in
his practice. He estimated the extra health-care costs attributable to obesity
are in the range of $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion a year in Ontario alone.
The OMA noted that a recent re-analysis of Canadian data showed that
31.5 per cent of children and teens — virtually one in three — are overweight
or obese. That’s up from 14 to 18 per cent in the 1980s. The OMA isn’t in a
position to bring about any of the changes it is advocating, it can only help
to focus government and public attention on the problem and its recommendations
for addressing it. Weir said the organization will be raising the issue with
the Ontario government.
For the campaign, it devised images of food products — a serving of
french fries from a fast food restaurant, a pizza box, a juice pack, a carton
of chocolate milk — branded with the types of eye catching images and warnings
that have changed the face of cigarette packaging. The juice box bore a graphic
picture of a deep ulcer on the sole of a foot, a limb-threatening problem
people with diabetes can face. The milk carton was printed with a warning
declaring that a half litre of chocolate milk (the larger of the individual
sizes sold) contains 360 calories and 12.5 teaspoons of sugar.
The association’s inclusion of juice raised some eyebrows, reflecting
the fact that many people think juice is a healthy option for thirsty kids. But
Weir noted juice has as many — or more — calories as sugar-sweetened sodas,
saying it has been transformed from a drink people consumed in small quantities
in the morning to something children drink all day long.
Weight loss expert Dr. Yoni Freedhoff agreed, pointing out that expert
groups advise that juice consumption should be limited to half a cup per day
for young children and a cup a day for everyone else.
Grape juice, he noted, contains 10 teaspoons of sugar per glass. “Whether
the sugar was made by a plant or whether the sugar was made by a machine, it
doesn’t change the fact it’s still sugar,” said Freedhoff, who is the medical director
of Ottawa’s Bariatric Medical Institute. “And beverages with 10 teaspoons of
sugar shouldn’t be beverages that we consume on a regular basis.”
An association representing food and beverage manufacturers hit back
swiftly, denouncing the linking of some foods with tobacco. “Let’s be very
clear — food is not tobacco,” Phyllis Tanaka, vice president for scientific and
regulatory affairs, food and nutrition for Food and Consumer Products of
Canada, said in a statement. “Tobacco has no place in a healthy, balanced
lifestyle. A tax on food and beverages is nothing but a tax grab that will hurt
lower and middle income Ontarians the most.”
The organization noted that the government of Denmark introduced a tax
on saturated fat last year, but is now moving to scrap it. The tax was blamed
for the loss of jobs in the country’s food manufacturing sector. The industry
group said consumer education and more choice will lead to better results in
the fight against obesity.
But Freedhoff said governments need to act, because consumers cannot do
it on their own. “We do not have an epidemic loss of willpower in our children.
We do not. Children have not changed in 50 years,” he said. “What has changed is the world in which children live. And what these
sorts of interventions aim to address is that world.”
Metro News Canada
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