Tackling Malta's huge obesity problem

PREVENTING Malta becoming a country populated with diabetes, osteoarthritis, heart disease, stroke, cancer, low self-esteem and depression sufferers, was the aim of a seminar held by juice-makers Safari yesterday, to highlight the importance of Malta addressing its obesity problem - especially among the younger generation.

And Malta has a huge obesity problem affecting both adults and children: 60 per cent of adults are overweight, according to the Health Division. That figure is set to rise if Maltese children's lifestyle and dietary habits are not addressed - already 7.9 per cent of under-15s are clinically obese, and 25.4 per cent are overweight, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

To highlight how our "healthy Mediterranean diet and quality of life" is misguided, Malta topped the recent WHO's child obesity survey, with the fattest children out of 34 countries, including Europe, Canada and, most surprisingly, the US with its child 'fat camps' and youth fast food addictions. Malta was closely followed by Sicily.

The study surveyed 160,000 children aged 11, 13 and 15. It revealed a sedentary lifestyle coupled with bad eating and drinking habits leads to energy intake exceeding energy output, and eventual weight gain.

Jeremy Cassar, head of marketing at H.H Ltd, which produce Safari juices, said the company was concerned about these alarming figures on child obesity.

"Safari wishes to be at the forefront in educating the public to safeguard the well-being of our future generations," he said, adding that fruit juice constituted a healthier alternative to soft drinks.

Seminar speakers included a paediatrician, a paediatric dentist, a dietician, a food scientist, an educator and a nutritionist. It was opened by Shadow Minister for Education, Carmelo Abela, and attended by over 600 people, including parents, carers and teachers.

Speaker and nutrionist Maria Ellul said obesity was a worldwide 21st century epidemic, with over one billion adults carrying some sort of excess weight, according to UN statistics.

"The European Commission estimates that in some of its member states obesity costs up to five to ten per cent of the health budget, as it becomes the main cause of premature mortality and morbidity in many industrialised nations," she pointed out.

To be obese your body mass index (body weight in kilos divided by height in metres times height in metres) must be over 25. WHO first identified Malta's high levels of obesity in a survey carried out in 1984. This recorded that 67.5 per cent of the Maltese population aged between 25-64 were either overweight or obese.

Things have worsened since: in a WHO press statement last September, the biggest offenders on Maltese scales were women over 30, 75 per cent of whom are overweight. As far as children are concerned, the worst affected are 10-year-olds (35 per cent carry some form of excess weight); 13.5 per cent of 13-year-old boys and 17 per cent of girls are classified as obese.

And the results of the 2002 HSBC survey on Malta's weight problem pinpointed where we could be going wrong. Only 53 per cent of children have breakfast five to seven days of the week while 18 per cent of children never have lunch during the week.

Only 25 per cent of children eat fruit more than once every day, only 17 per cent of children eat vegetables more than once every day and only 38 per cent of children are physically active five to seven days a week.

Paediatrician Victor Calvagna spoke about the consequences of childhood obesity. He pointed out that excess weight in children could be overcome by promoting breast-feeding, increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables and fibre containing grain products, switching to fat-free dairy products after two years of age, preparing and eating family meals at home, limiting the intake of food that is high in saturated fats, total fats, cholesterol and refined sugar, increasing daily physical activity, limiting sedentary (including TV and computer time) to just two hours a day, and reducing or banning televised food advertisements directed at children.

Dr Calvagna added that treating overweight children must be done individually and it is best to involve the whole family in the treatment - which involves both a dietary change and an increase in physical activity.

Professor Victor Ferrito, a food scientist, spoke about food composition and what a child should be eating and drinking. Dietician Mario Caruana, who spoke about nutrition in childhood, stressed that growing children should not be put on a diet without a doctor's and dietician's supervision.

"With increased active play and moderate fat reductions, most overweight children will grow into their weight," he pointed out, adding that these preventative strategies can be developed during early childhood, promoting a healthy lifestyle for life and a healthy body image which can combat eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. Dr Suzanne Piscopo, an educator, agreed - her presentation pinpointing that home economics is geared towards learning to eat healthily from school age.

A bad diet doesn't only affect weight, but also children's teeth, paediatric dentist Audrey Camilleri told the seminar. She pointed out that although fruit juice was better for children to drink it could still harm teeth. She recommended children drink a 100 per cent juice drink - but not more than a 200ml serving a day.

The underlying seminar message was: if we all heed the professionals' advice Malta could stop obesity spiralling out of control, and avoid joining the 155 million children, and 300 million people worldwide, who suffering from all the problems associated with being overweight... and our country suffering economically - a natural consequence of an obesity epidemic.