Debate rages over whether people need the government to tell them what they should eat

It seems so simple. If we eat less salt, sugar and fat and start moving more, the lifestyle diseases that plague us - such as heart disease and diabetes - will begin to disappear.'

Debate rages over whether people need the government to tell them what they should eat Arthealth620x349

The message is loud and clear, yet when it comes to the decisions we make every day about what to put in our mouths and shopping trolleys, it seems not to be getting through.

Research released this week found diet and exercise campaigns are so ineffective at preventing heart disease that they should be abandoned in favour of strict government regulation of salt content in foods and wider medication use.

All the money spent on advice and information has had a ''trivial'' effect when it comes to heart disease, according to the study by Linda Cobiac, a research fellow at the University of Queensland's school of population health.
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Healthy lifestyle messages cost state and federal governments $132.9 million in 2008-09, with the amount spent growing more than any other public health area. NSW was behind only Victoria in its spending on health campaigns - $64.5 million in one year. But the statistics seem at odds with all that spending. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death while the number of overweight and obese adults has doubled over the past two decades, with almost a quarter of the population now obese.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/fed-up-with-health-messages-20120803-23ki3.html#ixzz22YiIFw5l

Debate rages over whether people need the government to tell them what they should eat

Debate rages over whether people need the government to tell them what they should eat

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