'Obesity crisis' ahead for Ireland

IRELAND IS on the cusp of an obesity crisis, according to nutrition expert Prof Sylvia Rowe.

Prof Rowe delivered the keynote speech at the Positive Approaches to Obesity conference in Croke Park, Dublin yesterday organised by the Nutrition and Health Foundation.

“Based on your statistics, it’s a coming crisis. You are just on the cusp of a public health issue that’s really escalating,” she said. Prof Rowe is a strategic consultant on food issues and policy with Edelman, Washington DC.

Minister of State at the Department of Health Mary Wallace said tackling obesity was a priority and she had written to other Government departments on the issue.

Prof Niall Moyna of Dublin City University told the conference the marketing budgets of fast food outlets dwarfed those of organisations promoting health eating.

“But it isn’t all about the food industry . . . We have engineered activity out of our lives and it’s becoming an enormous problem. Physical activity is important. Our genes require it.”

The conference was attended by representatives of McDonalds, Mars Foods and Pepsi Cola.