Obvious solutions to reduce childhood obesity aren’t working so it’s time “to get beyond the common sense and into the science” of the problem, Health Minister Deb Matthews says.
She named a panel of 17 experts Friday to brainstorm recommendations aimed at helping Ontario cut childhood obesity rates by 20 per cent in five years.
The well-honed message of eating better and exercising isn’t getting through, Matthews said in a cavernous gym at the downtown YMCA as children noisily played in the background.
“Child obesity is a complex issue,” she told reporters, citing factors from family income to lifestyles and processed convenience foods. “It has many dimensions to it.”
One-quarter of children ages 2 to 12 are overweight or obese — up from 15 per cent in 1979 — and 75 per cent remain obese as adults, a problem that costs the health system an estimated $4.5 billion annually through related medical problems.
Matthews could take quick action by supporting a private members’ bill in the legislature requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus, said the MPP behind the bill, New Democrat France Gélinas (Nickel Belt).
Obesity rates have been climbing for decades and the rise goes beyond too much “screen time” and “shame and blame” of parents, said panel member Dr. Denis Daneman, chief pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children.
He’d like to see unhealthy foods targeted in a similar way that smoking was tackled.
“If there’s a need to regulate some of the things then one needs to think about doing that,” Daneman said.
“There used to be a cigarette dispenser in the Hospital for Sick Children in the 1970s. That’s long, long gone. There’s been major changes in smoking — can we change the way people eat as well?”
The announcement came at the end of a week where high schools reported that cafeteria sales are down sharply because of the Ontario government’s junk food ban in schools.
“Healthy food can be delicious food and that’s part of the conversation we will be having here too,” said Matthews.
Although government finances are tight with a $15 billion deficit and a goal of balancing the budget by 2018, “investing in prevention is something that we will consider very seriously,” she added.
The panel, which also includes cookbook author Rose Reisman, nurses, food company representatives and fitness experts, has been asked to report by the end of the year.
Matthews said she wants the recommendations to be wide-ranging and practical.
“What parents can actually do? What are the tools they need? How can we actually support parents who are seeing their kids get to an unhealthy weight? How can we support their kids better?”