Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We need to take a fresh look at childhood obesity issues because whatever the government has been doing for the last 11 years has not worked. We also need to make sure that, in focusing on obesity, we are not causing another monster—an unhealthy fixation with weight that can, and is, leading to eating disorders. I specifically want to talk about the Howard government’s recent decision to fund, to the tune of $3 million, a children’s version of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing diet book to tackle childhood obesity. I believe this will only worsen the problem. I recently discussed this issue with Rachel Barbara, acting director of the Victorian Centre for Excellence in Eating Disorders. Rachel confirmed that tackling childhood obesity by spending $3 million on a children’s diet book is a simplistic and dangerous approach—and with this I agree.

The fact is that dieting is not advisable for children. It not only results in weight gain but also is one of the biggest risk factors in the development of eating disorders. This is because obsession with weight can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. We know that up to 20 per cent of people with anorexia will die. Anorexia is the third most common illness in adolescent girls and, for women aged between 15 and 24, eating disorders are among the top four leading causes of disease burden in terms of years of life lost through death and disability. We also know that 13 per cent of young Australians are extremely overweight or obese and that they put on most of their weight during their adolescent years, when they are going through major life transitions. This compares to 1.5 per cent of children who were obese in 1985, which is a massive jump.

Disordered eating is now a major problem amongst children, with obesity at one end of the spectrum and anorexia at the other. We need to start to see obesity and anorexia as disordered eating illnesses that exist on opposite ends of the same spectrum. They are just extremes of the same problem—disordered eating. We need to see childhood obesity and anorexia as being more than simply a matter of children eating too much or too little. We need to recognise that disordered eating is a form of mental illness, no matter what end of the spectrum it sits on.

What do we mean by disordered eating? Eating is defined as disordered when people turn to food or away from food as a way to cope with problems. For instance, when food or dieting is frequently used to deal with loneliness or anxiety, eating is disordered. Serious forms of disordered eating can lead to very serious health problems. We can now argue that, sadly, in our Western society, some degree of disordered eating is the norm rather than the exception. Disordered eating can include illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder or an eating disorder not otherwise specified. Currently, 10 per cent of young adults have disordered eating, with long-term consequences for their physical and mental health. Under these circumstances, a focus on dieting and weight sends the wrong message, because being thin does not necessarily mean that you are fit or healthy or indeed mentally healthy.

In April this year, Professor Phillipa Hay, head of psychiatry at James Cook University, presented findings of a study on the prevalence of eating disorders in the population. According to her study, the number of people with eating disorders has more than doubled in the past decade. The number of people regularly taking laxatives, making themselves sick or undergoing extreme fasting jumped from 4.7 per cent in 1995 to 11 per cent in 2005. Over the same period, the number of people with a psychiatric eating disorder, such as binge-eating, rose from two per cent to 4.6 per cent. Most tellingly, Professor Hay attributes this unhealthy fixation with weight, and the eating disorders that accompany it, as being due to the obesity epidemic. She also said, ‘We found people of normal weight who are now very aware and concerned about their body shape—one in 10 to an extreme degree.’ Professor Hay also acknowledged that ‘the obesity epidemic has to be very carefully managed because there is a whole other problem it could be creating’. We are seeing the weight fixation problem beginning very early in children now. Indeed, we have seen cases of children in kindergarten having to seek admission to hospital. Disturbingly, there has been a fourfold increase in admissions for eating disorders at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne in the past three years, with children as young as 10 being treated for bulimia and anorexia.

So what is the solution? Let us take the focus off weight and body image. Our public health focus should be on healthy living, including a nutritious diet, exercise and good self-esteem. What is the Howard government’s response? Apart from a crazy plan to create a diet book for kids—which most working families would not be able to afford the ingredients for or have the time to adhere to anyway—there has been a lack of good ideas from the Howard government. Indeed, there has been silence. Knowing what we do about eating disorders, the Howard government’s plan to weigh children at school is completely misguided. Indeed, it is reprehensible. Making a public example of children’s weight may cause unnecessary trauma and encourage bullying. Some children will never be the ‘right weight’ and to focus on this may cause more harm than good. We need to start coming up with a comprehensive plan to tackle obesity and eating disorders. The Minister for Health and Ageing could start by agreeing to my idea of holding a national body image summit where some of these issues can be discussed by the various stakeholders, such as doctors and fashion editors. There is much more to do on this issue, and funding a diet book is definitely not the way to go.