Parents 'not solely to blame for obesity'

PERSONAL responsibility is only part of the answer to childhood obesity and blaming parents is too simplistic, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald has said.

“Clearly personal responsibility is part of the answer”, but a child’s environment was also a factor such as finding it difficult to walk to school or if there was a fast-food outlet nearby, said Ms Fitzgerald.

“It’s a bit simplistic to blame parents, they have a role but they are products of their own environment,” she said, adding that higher levels of obesity in poorer neighbourhoods was also a factor.

Ms Fitzgerald was speaking at an Irish Times/ Pfizer health forum in Dublin on the topic, Obesity in Ireland,with panellists Prof Patrick Wall, associate professor of public health at UCD, Dr Donal O'Shea, consultant endocrinologist and director of the weight management clinic at St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Minister for Children Ms Fitzgerald and Dr Muireann Cullen, manager of the Nutrition and Health Foundation. The forum was chaired by Irish Timesassistant editor Fintan O'Toole on Thursday last.

There was no such thing as a “bad parent” but a parent in a “bad environment”, and that environment had to change, Dr O’Shea said. Parents don’t let their child smoke or run across the road, he said.

The way food is promoted and the lack of access to exercise means a parent with bad habits passes them on, but in a “worse environment than they grew up in”, he said.

A stark message should be given to parents before a child is born. “If you cola and crisps five days a week and have a takeaway three times a month, it’s like letting your child smoke,” he said.

The current generation of parents faced the prospect of seeing their children die before them because of obesity-related illnesses, Ms Fitzgerald said.

“It is an appalling vista if we don’t intervene and interrupt the pattern and do something about it because the consequences are so serious,” she said.

She described as "very disturbing" the findings of Growing Up in Ireland: The National Longitudinal Study of Childrenpublished earlier this month showing that a quarter of nine year olds were obese.

Ms Fitzgerald referred to the finding that half the parents of overweight children and 20 per cent of those with obese children said their child was about the right weight for their height.

Children should be half their age in stone, Dr O’Shea said. “The problem with kids coming into clinics, the eight year old is nine stone, more than double,” he said.

He also referred to a lack of awareness among obese adults. Obesity for a woman begins at about 12st 8lb and for a man at 14st 10lb. “Most people of that weight consider themselves overweight, not obese,” he said.

“It’s now abnormal to be a normal weight in Ireland,” Dr O’Shea said, referring to some 65 per cent of adults who are overweight or obese.

He outlined the health implications linked to weight which ranged from “dental to mental”. “Cigarette smoking took out the lungs and the heart, but obesity takes everything out,” he said. Up to 40 per cent of common cancers are caused by overweight and obesity, he added.

Prof Wall said people could have genes such as the breast cancer gene and while it may not be “switched on”, it could be “triggered” by diet.

Speaking from the audience, journalist and food writer Trevor White said the only option to tackle obesity was to “beg people like the Minister to intervene on our behalf”.

There were two other options that wouldn’t work – personal responsibility and encouraging the food industry to behave better, he said. There was not a level playing field when it came to the industry’s strong grip on the debate, he added.

Ms Fitzgerald compared obesity to smoking in how the industry adapted, “but you still do the right thing about smoking”, she said of public policy.

A tax on sugar-sweetened drinks was one of the anti-obesity initiatives being considered by Government. “Obviously that would be fought by the industry hugely,” she said.

Asked by Mr O’Toole if she would face down special interests, she said, “I hope so. It’s very challenging.” The cigarette industry was a very powerful lobby and the food and drinks industry was “very strong and powerful”, she said.

A “carrot and stick approach” was needed. The best way to deal with industry was public education so that “demand is not there”, she said.

The issue of obesity was “being taken seriously” by Government and the consequences of not taking action were “extreme”, both personally and in demands on health service, she said.

A sugar tax was only one part of a multi-faceted approach, Other initiatives under consideration were planning guidelines on fast-food outlets near schools, calorie labels on fast food and restrictions on food advertising aimed at children, she said.

Dr O’Shea said the sugar tax was a “key part” but was only one part of an overall strategy as no single initiative would work.

Finland’s obesity was levelling off after 15 years of “throwing the kitchen sink” at the problem with policies such as a fat tax, in-school eating programmes and public education, he said.

Dr Cullen said the Scandinavian reduction of heart disease by 75 per cent was multi-factorial – “down to priests on the pulpit talking about heart disease”.

Obesity was a “societal problem which needs a societal solution” and an “enabling environment” needed to be created. Among the policies she advocated were support to help pregnant women learn how to eat healthily and more home economics and food preparation education in schools.

Prof Wall said taxation and subsidies on food and drink would be the key initiative he would take if he was Minister for Health. “You can’t save adults, but young people should be centre stage,” he said.

In appealing for action to tackle obesity, Dr O’Shea drew a parallel between the poor response of the Catholic Church authorities to child abuse and Ireland’s obesity problems among children.

“We cannot do nothing” he said.