Health Promotion on Obesity: An Analysis of Australian Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of health promotion strategies aimed at combating obesity in Australia. It begins by establishing the context of the obesity problem, highlighting its prevalence and the associated economic, social, and health impacts. The paper delves into specific interventions, including the implementation of food and beverage taxes to discourage the consumption of unhealthy products, promoting physical activity through various initiatives, regulating the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages in both conventional and social media, and restricting sports sponsorship by unhealthy food and beverage companies. The report emphasizes the importance of a coordinated, whole-of-society approach to obesity prevention, arguing that a combination of these strategies is necessary to effectively reduce the prevalence of obesity and improve public health outcomes. The report also includes a discussion of the effectiveness of these interventions, supported by scholarly literature and research findings, and concludes by summarizing the most effective strategies for obesity prevention in Australia.

Running Head: HEALTH PROMOTION ON OBESITY
Health Promotion on Obesity
Student’s Name
University affiliation
Date

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Abstract
Obesity and overweight is a great public health problem not only in Australia but also globally.
Obesity comes from a sustained imbalance in energy which can be influenced and determined by
an individual’s genetic and biological features, as well as lifestyle factors. This paper brings
together numerous information to establish a picture of obesity in Australia. The paper discusses
various health promotion and prevention strategies aimed at minimizing or reducing the impacts
of obesity in the country. Health promotion of physical activity, taxes on unhealthy foods and
beverages, restricting advertising on convention media and social unhealthy food products, and
regulating elite sport sponsorship.

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Health promotion on Obesity
Introduction and Background information
The rise in obesity for many decades has been dramatic globally, especially in Australia
and the western world. The rates of obesity as well as overweight in Australia have been
gradually climbing. Prevalence of obesity has become one of the major focus for the federal and
state governments in Australia and globally (Miljkovic et al., 2015). The government of
Australia has recognized it as one of the nine priority areas of public health. For instance, in
2015, 27.5% infants and 63.4% adults were classified as obese or overweight, with the models
estimating vital rises in the prevalence of serious overweight or obesity by 2026 (Body Mass
Index greater than 35) (Croyden et al., 2018). The economic, social and health impacts of obesity
are vital, entailing enhanced risk of lifestyle diseases such as heart-related diseases, cancer, as
well as type diabetes, and a decreases in the quality of life. It should be noted that in 2008, the
economic cost of the overweight was approximated at $57.3 billion, entailing government
subsidies, cost of productivity, and loss of wellbeing. An increasing body of literature recognize
the effect that changes in the food setting, entailing the enhanced availability, promotion of
energy-rich and dense, foods, increased affordability, food and beverages poor in nutrients are
having on dietary behaviors as well as rates of obesity and overweight.
It is key to note that unhealthy diet has been considered as one of the major preventable
lifestyle risk factors for world disease burden (Sainsbury et al., 2018). Therefore, from the
economic as well as health viewpoint, there is a serious need to prevent obesity and promote the
healthiness of diets. A NOURISHING framework has been developed by the World Cancer
Research Fund international to pinpoint the numerous regulatory framework which governments
should undertake, that is, food environment, behavior and lifestyle change, and food systems

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(Sainsbury et al., 2018). The government of Australia at the federal and state level have given
priority strategies to behavior changes, investing public health funds into environment-based
programs and education campaigns for prevention of obesity at the individual and community
level (Croyden et al., 2018).
However, the question that lingers on the mind of the people is what regulatory measure
the government has adopted to promote obesity prevention such as promoting healthier food and
beverage setting as well as enhanced individual and community level dietary lifestyles? It should
be noted that Australian Capital Territory, the New South Wales, as well as the South and
Queensland adopted the mandatory kilojoule signage in fast foods hotels, even though more
states have not taken action. This paper will critically discuss the interventions or health
promotions to minimize or reduce obesity.
Obesity Prevention Measures
It should be noted that reducing the prevalence of obesity will require a coordinated
interventionist and whole-of-the-society approach as opposed to single intervention or policy.
Food and Beverage Tax
Australians are usually confused concerning nutrition requirements, labeling of beverage
and food, as well as the relationship between overconsumption of food and beverage and obesity.
Inadequate consumer comprehension in the market for beverages and food especially processed
beverages and food is a well-known case of market failure (Hernández-F et al., 2019). Thus,
giving solutions to market failures which lead to overconsumption of unhealthy beverages and
food should be given priority by different governments especially the Australian government. It
should be noted that Australian government should introduce food and beverage tax which lead

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to the third-party cost of overweight or obesity to minimize consumption. Moreover, the public
has the right to receive better information concerning healthy food and beverage and the nexus
between health and obesity. The Australian government can also minimize the supply of
unhealthy beverages and food as well as raise the supply of healthy beverage and food via
regulation and guidelines. I want to state that a tax levied on sugar-sweetened beverages like
cordials, fruit drinks and soft drinks is one of the best ways of reducing prevalence of obesity
among the people.
Introduction of such taxes will significantly and relatively minimize the consumption of
sugar-sweetened beverages, raise the retail price nearer to the social cost as well as incentivizes
healthy food and beverages (Previte & Gurrieri, 2015). It should be noted that almost all the
sugar-sweetened beverages do not contain nutritional value and lead to a great share of added
sugar consumption particularly among the youths (Pomeranz et al., 2018). Empirical research
studies have highly linked sugar-sweetened beverages to weight gain, overweight or obesity, as
well as the linked health problems. Sugar-sweetened beverages have been linked to contribute an
approximated 11% to Australia’s overweight and obesity health problems. Therefore, a new tax
on food sugar sweetened beverages is justified in Australia due to market failure.
Promotion of Physical Activity
The causes of obesity are usually multifactorial. At the individual level, obesity can arise
due to non-modifiable features like family history and genetics, modifiable lifestyles like
physical activity and dietary intake, as well as social and economic situations like poverty
(Belton et al., 2019). Overweight or obesity results from imbalance in energy, that is, too few
calories burned relative to too many calories in the body. A host of factors determine how much

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energy (calorie) individuals burn every day. However, the major verified and modified factor has
been identified as the amount of physical activity individuals do daily. It should be noted that
keeping physically active helps individuals to lose weight or stay at a healthy weight. Moreover,
it may minimize the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and boost moods and
reduce stress. Sedentary lifestyles increases the prevalence of obesity in individuals (Caceres et
al., 2018). Physical inactivity has been considered as one of the major cause of prevalence of
obesity in Australia and is normally targeted for health promotion at community and individual
level because it can be modified (Semlitsch et al., 2019).
Regulation of beverage and food marketing in both the conventional media and social media
It should be noted that advertising and promotion of beverage and food to individuals and
public are rife across the globe and are influencing the consumption pattern of the consumers. A
vital amount of the marketing is usually for food and beverage products having high content of
salt, sugars, or fat, consumption in which have the potential to increase the risk of obesity,
overweight or other non-communicable diseases (Healey, 2015). Obese people are at higher risk
of suffering from adverse health problems like asthma, cancer, hypertension, type 2 disease and
other forms of cardiovascular diseases, liver disease and sleep disorders (Ayers, Boughanem &
Macías-González, 2019). There has been public support for the minimization and regulation to
decrease exposure to unhealthy beverages and food advertising not only in Australia but also
globally especially in broadcast advertising. The government should come up with stringent laws
and policies to limit unhealthy beverage and food advertising and promotion during times when
young people are watching television (Olsen et al., 2013). Moreover, the government should also
put limitations on unhealthy beverage and food marketing to young people on the social media.

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There are increasing body of knowledge and literature which pinpointing the direct causal
relationship between marketing exposure as well as taste preference, purchase preferences and
intake of unhealthy beverages and food by the public (Drewnowski et al., 2016). Moreover, there
has been increasing parental concerns regarding the huge quantity of unhealthy beverages and
food marketing channeled to young people on conventional media like television. Therefore, as
individual and public awareness concerning the adverse influence of beverage and food
continues, it can be projected that support for the regulation and policy framework will remain to
increase.
Restriction to Sponsorship Exposure
Elite sponsorship of sports has been acknowledged to achieve powerful engagement as
well as greater reach with not only the young people but also the greater public via mass media
and live spectatorship. It should be noted that over half of the Australians aged between 18-25
years attend more than one sporting occasion annually (Dixon et al., 2018). Moreover, about half
of the population in the country watches sport on television during commercial free-to-air
programs. Beverage and food industries usually exploit the advertising potential with widespread
marketing of numerous sports via their governing institutions by industries encouraging
unhealthy beverage, food, gambling as well as alcohol products. Different people have, thus,
called for the establishment of regulatory guidelines to restrict such sports sponsorship
(Sainsbury et al., 2018). Moreover, opportunities abound for healthcare organizations and
government departments to capitalize on the sport sponsorship to reach out to the young people
and public with well-defined and aligned healthier body weight and eating messages (Dixon et
al., 2018). It should be noted that elite sport sponsorship entails numerous complementary
adverting strategies like marketing at sporting events, logos on uniforms, product endorsement

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by celebrities in sports, etc. Empirical research studies have indicated that sport sponsorship can
promote brand awareness, change brand image as well as raise the intentions to buy sponsor
products especially unhealthy beverages and food (Pogorzelski, 2018).
Conclusion
Prevalence of obesity is increasing not only in Australia but also globally. There are
different modifiable risk factors of obesity and overweight which if individually and publicly
managed well can reduce the impacts of the disease. Physical inactivity has been a major
contributor of non-communicable diseases including obesity. Health promotions strategies which
are geared towards encouraging communities and individuals to regularly undertake physical
activity will have a vital impact on the fight to reduce obesity in Australia. However, it should be
noted that strategies to reduce adverse impacts of obesity should be done concurrently so that
individuals and communities can live a healthy life.

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Appendix
My search strategy started by largely researching health promotion topics in Australia to guide
my choice of subject for this task. My first search focused on the national government website as
well as organizations in the public health sector to effectively understand my subject (obesity). I
then searched for information from global world organizations dealing with public health like
world Health Organization, center for disease prevention and control, International agency for
research on cancer, Food and Agriculture Organization to have a global perspective of obesity. I
also searched on various literature reviews in the internet, EBSCOHOST to effectively
comprehend my subject/
Internet sites
World health Organization
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Australian Government – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Electronic database
EBSCOHOST
PubMed Central
Key words

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Obesity and overweight
Risk factors OR Modifiable factors
Food tax
Elite sport sponsorship
Physical activity or Inactivity
Unhealthy food marketing
Social media and Obesity
Health Promotion and Obesity