Category: Food and Nutrition
-
Food strategies need ingredients like equity, justice, and sovereignty
Dr Amy Carrad The ACT Government released a Draft Canberra Region Local Food Strategy in September 2023, which claims it will “increase community access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.” It aims to do so by leaning heavily on community gardens as a means of increasing fresh produce in the…
-
Government regulation urgently needed to protect young children’s diets from food marketing influence
Dr Alexandra Chung, Monash University Babies and toddlers can’t yet write a grocery shopping list, but they are considered fair game when it comes to food marketing. Our new research published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health reveals how babies and toddlers are being targeted with front-of-pack…
-
Advocacy strategies for advancing health in all policies: what works for trade policymaking?
Dr Belinda Townsend, Australian Research Centre for Health Equity, Australian National University, Ms Brigitte Tenni, School of Psychology and Population Health, La Trobe University & Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne, Ms Sharni Goldman, Australian Research Centre for Health Equity, Australian National University & Associate Prof Deborah Gleeson,…
-
Time to enact food policies in the National Preventive Health Strategy
Dr Bronwyn Ashton and Damian Maganja, Co-Convenors of the PHAA Food and Nutrition Special Interest Group New data released on 27 June 2023 by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) showed that unhealthy weight and dietary factors continue to be the second and third largest preventable causes of…
-
Next steps to helping children thrive with an expanded South Australian School Breakfast Program
Dr Alanna Sincovich, Senior Research Officer Telethon Kids Institute, Executive Committee PHAA SA Branch; Ms Mary Brushe, Study Manager Telethon Kids Institute, Vice President PHAA SA Branch. In the recently launched 2023-24 South Australian State Budget, the Premier announced an additional $6.5 million of funding to expand the state’s School…
-
A future of autonomous vehicles delivering junk food 24/7 is coming, health researchers warn
PHAA While the public health community welcomed the Healthy Kids Advertising Bill 2023 announced by Independent MP Sophie Scamps this week, some public health experts are also warning that new challenges in junk food accessibility and advertising are emerging. A new study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal…
-
Public health experts brief Agriculture Committee on food security
Lily Pratt, PHAA Policy Officer On 2 June the Australian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Agriculture held their first (and so far, only) health-specific hearing regarding their inquiry into and report on strengthening and safeguarding food security. PHAA was invited to attend after completing our submission in December 2022. We joined…
-
Parliament debates influence of unhealthy product ads on children
Malcolm Baalman, PHAA Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor Yesterday, key members of federal Parliament with health experience – including an Assistant Minister – agreed that action is urgently needed to meet community expectations about protecting children from advertising of unhealthy products including junk food, alcohol, and gambling. The debate (p.61 onwards)…
-
Ramadan Fasting: Opportunities for Public Health Professionals
Professor Muhammad Aziz Rahman The second most widely practised religion is Islam and there are over 1.7 billion Muslims globally which is about a quarter of the world population. In Australia, Muslims comprise about 2.3% of the population, or around 650,000 people. Practising Muslims observe the holy month of fasting…
-
Clear nutrition labels can encourage healthier eating habits. Here’s how Australia’s food labelling can improve
Gary Sacks, Deakin University and Jasmine Chan, Deakin University In your trips to the supermarket, you’ve probably come across the Health Star Rating on the front of some foods. You might even be one of the 70% of Australians who say they read the detailed nutrition information on the back…
-
The rise of dark advertising: gambling, alcohol, junk food ads bombarding people in Australia
Melanie Parker, PHAA Note: Article updated on 26/01/2023 to correct first table, sixth paragraph, and fourth-last paragraph. After experts voiced concerns about a lack of transparency of social media companies on how people are targeted by unhealthy product advertisers, we decided to investigate how often our own profiles were…
-
Food, nutrition and climate: What was on the table at COP27?
Holley Jones, PHAA Food and Nutrition Special Interest Group member COP 27 in Egypt The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Egypt in November, with the intention to drive collaboration and enact commitments made in…
-
Australia is dragging its feet on healthy eating. In 5 years we’ve made woeful progress
Gary Sacks, Deakin University and Davina Mann, Deakin University Australia is falling behind other countries in addressing the unhealthy state of our diets. Several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico, have recently taken major steps to help improve population nutrition and prevent obesity. But our latest assessment,…
-
PHAA Life Member Christina Pollard on four decades of being curious
Associate Professor Christina Pollard (left, with PHAA President, Adjunct Professor Tarun Weeramanthri), was awarded Life Membership of the PHAA recently in Adelaide. She explains her varied career to date in this, the second story in our series of 2022 PHAA award winners. Qualifications 1981 Bachelor of Applied Science (Nutrition &…
-
How dark is ‘dark advertising’? We audited Facebook, Google and other platforms to find out
Nicholas Carah, The University of Queensland; Aimee Brownbill, The University of Queensland; Amy Shields Dobson, Curtin University; Brady Robards, Monash University; Daniel Angus, Queensland University of Technology; Kiah Hawker, The University of Queensland; Lauren Hayden, The University of Queensland, and Xue Ying Tan, Queensland University of Technology Once upon a…
-
Independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps’ bid to address Australia’s childhood obesity levels
Danielle Gavanescu, PHAA Intern and Master of Public Health student Independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps has announced the development of a Private Member’s Bill that will restrict junk food marketing to children in a bid to curb Australia’s growing obesity epidemic. Dr Sophie Scamps calls for ban on junk food…
-
Food and drinks are getting sweeter. Even if it’s not all sugar, it’s bad for our health
Cherie Russell, Deakin University; Carley Grimes, Deakin University; Mark Lawrence, Deakin University; Phillip Baker, Deakin University, and Rebecca Lindberg, Deakin University Humans have an evolutionary preference for sweetness. Sweet foods, like fruit and honey, were an important energy source for our ancestors. However, in the modern world, sweetened foods are…
-
Q&A: Indigenous Peoples’ Inclusion in Food Governance
This piece was first published by the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney. Read the original article. For NAIDOC Week, Dr Mark Lock speaks to Dr Belinda Reeve about championing health equity for First Nations Australians and their meaningful inclusion in all dimensions of food governance. By Dr Mark J Lock, University of Technology Sydney & Deakin…
-
Who gets a say in public health nutrition? Five perspectives from the field
Christina Zorbas, Andrew Brown, Phoebe Nagorcka-Smith, Veronica Nunez, Dheepa Jeyapalan Introduction: A core tenet of public health nutrition is identifying and enacting actions to equitably improve population nutrition. We should act in a manner that proportionately addresses structural drivers of social and/or economic disadvantage. The increased focus on better including…
-
Australia’s new government must tackle food insecurity
Dr Maureen Murphy and Dr Rachel Carey University of Melbourne As food prices in Australia continue to rise and the cost-of-living crisis bites, tackling food insecurity should be high on the ‘to do’ list of the country’s newly elected Labor government. Our new research, developed in collaboration with stakeholders from…
-
Advocating for protection against unethical marketing of unhealthy products
PHAA Intern Allyson Todd, University of Sydney The unethical marketing of unhealthy products is an increasing concern within the digital age, from both a public health lens, and a human and child rights perspective. The Australian Government’s National Preventative Health Strategy 2021-2030 recognised the digital and commercial influence of promoting…
-
Ultra-processed foods are trashing our health – and the planet
Kim Anastasiou, Deakin University; Mark Lawrence, Deakin University; Michalis Hadjikakou, Deakin University, and Phillip Baker, Deakin University Our world is facing a huge challenge: we need to create enough high-quality, diverse and nutritious food to feed a growing population – and do so within the boundaries of our planet. This…
-
Advocating for Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems in Australia – taking a holistic approach
Kate Sievert, Cherie Russell, and Sarah Dickie – Healthy Food Systems Australia Australia’s dominant food system provides access to a wide range of safe foods in a relatively secure manner. However, it is also a major contributor to chronic disease risk and environmental degradation. Our food supply encourages the…
-
Fighting for food regulation reform and social mobilisation for wicked problems: Food Futures Conference 2022
PHAA Featuring international food and nutrition experts, and prominent Australian public figures, the final day of the Food Futures Conference 2022 was action-packed. Panel Session – The future of food regulation in Australia and New Zealand Emeritus Prof Murray Skeaff of @otago is speaking on food regulation system modernisation. #FoodFutures2022…
-
Early Career Researchers showcase the future of food research
Courtney Thompson, Kevin Mao, Shayal Prasad, Sarah Gandolfo, Alexandra Procter – Students and Young Professionals in Public Health (SYPPH) committee. Cherie Russell – Food and Nutrition Special Interest Group Executive. Some of the country’s brightest young minds gave views of the future of food and nutrition research and advocacy in…
-
“Uncomfortable, important and compelling”: Food Sovereignty presentations at Food Futures 2022
Christina Pollard, Melanie Parker, and Food Futures Conference Advisory Committee Over 170 delegates attended the Food Futures Conference 2022, held Wednesday 16 to Thursday 17 March. Expert speakers presented on a range of topics, on the Conference theme of transforming food systems for the planetary and public good. The third…
-
Corporate power, dietary guidelines and ultra-processed food on the menu at Food Futures 2022
Christina Pollard, Melanie Parker, and Food Futures Conference Advisory Committee Over 170 delegates attended the Food Futures Conference 2022, held Wednesday 16 to Thursday 17 March. Expert speakers presented on a range of topics, within the theme of transforming food systems for the planetary and public good. We’d like to…
-
ANZJPH study highlights festive season risk hazards, or ‘Chrishaps’
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA By now, most are ‘back at work’ (physically or remotely) and we can look back at how the majority of us have ‘survived’ another period of Christmas craziness. That theme of ‘surviving Christmas’ is the subject of a new article in the Australian and New Zealand…
-
How do we improve the nutrition of older Australians?
Kate Thiele – Meals on Wheels Australia & Melanie Parker – PHAA Introduction As people move through life, nutrition requirements change. This is pertinent for older Australians (70 years +), where poor nutrition can have a detrimental effect on health and wellbeing, particularly through malnutrition and other associated health problems. Lack…