About the Campaign

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Campaign Background

Building A Healthy, Active Australia

On 29 June 2004, the Prime Minister announced the Australian Government's new package Building a Healthy, Active Australia. This four year package will invest $116 million in addressing declining activity and poor eating habits among Australian children, and aims to provide families with reliable, practical and consumer friendly information on the importance of physical activity and healthy eating to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

The Department of Health and Ageing is responsible for delivering two information programs for Australian families - the first addressing the importance of healthy eating (Go for 2&5™ Campaign) and the second will focus on the importance of building more physical activity into our children's lives.

The Go for 2&5™ Campaign

The national Go for 2&5™ Campaign was launched by the Hon Christopher Pyne MP - Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing on Thursday 28 April 2005

The Go for 2&5™ campaign will help Australian parents to encourage their children to increase daily consumption of fruit and vegetables.

The campaign is based on one originally developed by the Western Australian Department of Health, titled Go for 2&5™ (http://www.gofor2and5.com.au). This campaign has delivered good results within Western Australia and is endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Target audience:

Primary - Parents and carers of children and youth (0-17 years)
Secondary - Children aged 5-12 and youth aged 13-17

Key objectives

• Raise awareness of the necessary combination of healthy eating and physical activity to promote good health in children
• Raise awareness of the need to eat 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables each day as part of a healthy diet
• Increase the proportion of Australian adults and children who eat the recommended serves of fruit and vegetables each day

Campaign activities

The campaign comprises national mass media advertising from 28 April to end June 2005. Activity includes national television advertising (free to air and pay TV), magazine placements, radio for non-English speaking audiences, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander press, online and advertising in shopping centres (poster boxes and shopping trolleys).

The campaign also includes national public relations activities to support the media advertising. Support materials include a consumer booklet, poster and recipe cards.

Support of the States and Territories

States and Territories will be supporting the national campaign through the placement of advertising, public relations activities and dissemination of information resources.

Facts about Overweight and Obesity

Background Information

Overweight and obesity are serious, chronic medical conditions that are associated with a range of debilitating and life-threatening conditions. They are also among the most complex and difficult problems to treat.
Diseases and conditions associated with overweight and obesity impose huge financial burdens on health-care systems and the community. Studies have estimated that the health care costs of excess body weight in Australia today are about $1.2 billion.

Fact: Being overweight or obese affects your health

People who are overweight or obese are at increased risk of health problems, ranging from the psychological to the physical. Immediate problems include:

• low self-esteem
• social isolation
• depression
• heat intolerance
• breathlessness on exertion
• tiredness.

Other health consequences of excessive body fat include:

• type 2 diabetes
• gall bladder disease
• sleep disorders
• high blood pressure
• coronary heart disease
• stroke
• some cancers
• osteoarthritis
• back problems
• reproductive abnormalities.

Fact: The number of children who are overweight or obese is increasing

The number of overweight and obese Australian children and adolescents has doubled in the last 15 years. It is estimated that between 20 and 25 percent of children and adolescents are now overweight or obese.

Because many of these people are at risk of becoming overweight or obese as adults, preventing and managing obesity in children is a priority.

In 1999-2000 almost 60 per cent of Australians - 7.5 million people - were overweight or obese.

Fact: Poor diet is a key risk factor for overweight and obesity

While many factors can influence an individual's weight, overweight and obesity are mainly caused by an imbalance when energy intake from foods exceeds energy expended in physical activity.

Australia's fresh food and vegetables may be among the best in the world, yet most people don't eat enough of them.

There is growing evidence that eating the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables not only contributes to good health, but also protects against a number of diseases.

Increasing the average person's fruit and vegetable intake may be the single most important dietary change needed to reduce the risk of major diseases and is a vital part of weight management.

A National Nutrition Survey undertaken in 1995-96 collected comprehensive data from about 13,000 people on how much fruit and vegetables we eat. It collected information on people aged two years and older from both metropolitan and rural areas across Australia.

The survey found that:

• Children ate less fruit and vegetables than recommended, with around 30 per cent eating no fruit or vegetables on the day before the survey.
• Consumption of fruit by both boys and girls declined with age.
• 42 per cent of adults did not eat any fruit on the day of the survey.
• Only 17 per cent of adults had the recommended daily amount of fruit (two serves).
• 16 per cent of adults did not eat any vegetables on the day of the survey.
• About 32 per cent of adults reported eating more than 300g (four serves) of vegetables a day. This is the minimum recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The more recent 2001 National Health Survey gave similar results:

• Men and women aged 18-24 years reported the lowest levels of fruit and vegetable intake.
• Almost half of this age group reported a daily vegetable intake of three serves or less, and a fruit intake of one serve or less, which is only about half the amount recommended for good health.

Results from the two surveys also indicated that:

• Fruit intake was highest in Western Australia and South Australia and lowest in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
• On average, people in rural and remote areas ate more vegetables than those in rural centres and metropolitan areas.
• People born in European countries other than the UK and Ireland had higher fruit intakes than those born in Australia, the UK, Ireland or East Asia.
• People who live in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic areas, who live alone (especially men), or are unemployed are more likely to have an inadequate fruit and vegetable intake.
• People living as a couple with children were most likely to have an adequate intake of fruit and vegetables.

References

ABS (2003). Health Risk Factors, Australia . Cat No. 4812.0. Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.

AIHW: A rising epidemic: obesity in Australian Children and Adolescents, Risk Factors Data Briefing Number 2, October 2004. Canberra: AIHW.

AIHW: Bennett SA, Magnus P & Gibson D 2004 . Obesity trends in older Australians. Bulletin no. 12. AIHW cat. no. AUS 42. Canberra: AIHW.

AIHW: Dixon T & Waters A-M 2003. A growing problem: trends and patterns in overweight and obesity among adults in Australia , 1980 to 2001. Bulletin No. 8. AIHW Cat. No. AUS 36. Canberra: AIHW.

Al-Yaman F, Bryant M & Sargeant H 2002. Australia's children: their health and wellbeing 2002.AIHW Cat. No. PHE 36. Canberra: AIHW.

Dunstan D, Zimmet P, Welborn T et al (2001) Diabesity and Associated Disorders in Australia 2000. Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study. International Diabetes Institute.

McLennan W and Podger A (1999). National Nutrition Survey. Foods Eaten Australia 1995. In Baghurst P, Beaumont-Smith N, Baghurst K & Cox D (1999). The relationship between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and health status . Report to the Department of Health and Aged Care and SIGNAL.

Must A and Straus RS (1999). Risks and consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity . International Journal of Obesity , 23 (Suppl 2):S2-S11.

NHMRC (2003) Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents. Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.

NHMRC (2003). Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults . Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.

NSW Health Department (2002a). NSW Obesity Summit Background Paper . NSW Health Department: Sydney.

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• Printable version of the Facts about Overweight and Obesity (PDF 94KB)

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