Incipient health crisis

Fat Kiwis are forcing a looming health crisis as we bulge to United States levels of obesity, experts say.

A dozen medical specialists have penned an open letter blaming the "incipient health crisis" on cuts to healthy eating and obesity-prevention programmes.

New Zealanders' bulging waistlines are putting huge pressure on the burgeoning health system and causing more deaths.

Otago University public health researcher Associate Professor Louise Signal, the letter's lead writer, said the average New Zealander was now expected to be 7kg heavier than they were in 1989.

"We are just condemning our children and ourselves to feeling bad about ourselves, poor health, and an early death."

A 2006-07 survey found 63 per cent of Kiwis were overweight or obese. That number was expected to be even larger now. More than a third of children were overweight. Those figures put New Zealand in the same bracket of obesity as the US – one of the fattest countries.

The open letter, published yesterday in the New Zealand Medical Journal, said the direct healthcare costs of obesity were thought to consume up to 7 per cent of the healthcare budget.

"This will balloon out of control if New Zealand's weight gain is not reversed.

"In New Zealand, population approaches to reduce the burden of obesity have been systematically cut in the last three years," the letter says.

The health professionals suggest ways to address the problem. These include a ban on marketing of junk food to children, developing a national nutrition strategy, and ensuring low-income people can afford healthy food.

Meanwhile, demand for weight-loss surgery has boomed.

"There is a desperate need for organised, effective action to address obesity," the letter says.

In response, Health Minister Tony Ryall said: "The Government is doing quite a lot across a range of initiatives."

Although the Healthy Eating Health Action Strategy had its funding reduced, that cash was redirected to other similar programmes, he said.

Each year, $65 million was spent on programmes to keep people active, including one where doctors prescribed healthy food and exercise on top of regular prescriptions.

Better diabetes and cardiovascular services were one of the Government's health targets, and schools were required to promote healthy food and drinks to pupils.

The private sector was also playing its part, Mr Ryall said.

New Zealand broadcasters had limited advertising of children's junk food.

In 2009, Education Minister Anne Tolley removed a ban making schools sell only healthy food and beverages but said they still had to promote healthy options.

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