By Lauren Owens
Nearly 70,000 Western Bay people are believed to be either obese or overweight, prompting health agencies to call for major lifestyle changes in this region.
Exact figures due out this year will confirm what the Bay of Plenty District Health Board already knows - obesity is a major issue in the Bay.
Based on 2003 New Zealand Health Survey figures, 30,000 locals are estimated by the health board to be obese and a further 40,000 are overweight.
Western Bay GPs and Sport Bay of Plenty this week moved to address the problem and a new co-ordinator hired by the health board is about to start a new Healthy Eating, Healthy Action (HEHA) initiative.
The Bay's obesity problem is only getting worse according to Helen Mason, Bay of Plenty District Health Board's general manager of planning and funding.
Almost 60 per cent of residents in the Bay board's area (taking in Tauranga down to Whakatane but not Rotorua) were obese or overweight in 2003 - more than 5 per cent above the national average.
The latest estimates for the Western Bay are based on these figures.
From 1991 to 2001 the number of obese people in this region doubled from one person in 10 to one in five.
Today the figures are believed to be even higher.
Body Mass Index calculations, which took into account people's height and weight, were used by the health board to gather the area's estimates of obese and overweight people.
"It is absolutely increasing. There is no way that you can say it's not ... children in particular," Mrs Mason said.
The emphasis was needed on instilling good habits. By getting active and eating healthily, diabetes and heart disease could be avoided.
Currently the Bay population features higher than average rates in two of the country's top three causes of death - heart disease and stroke.
Diabetes was also above the national average.
Mary-Ann Carter, the Western Bay Primary Health Organisation's health promotion co-ordinator, felt that bad habits had a lot answer for.
She emphasised that a lack of exercise and poor eating habits were cutting down life spans, sometimes by up to 20 years.
"The way things are going there is going to be a generation of people who will die before their parents," she said.
"Fifty years ago we walked around and biked. We can super-size our meals now. It's easy to [order an upsized fast food meal] for just 50 cents more but you're adding a lot more calories ... we eat much more than we need to."
The issue was a costly one in health funds and the impact on families, Mrs Carter said.
"Obesity causes problems like cancer and diabetes. That costs the country's health system millions of dollars a year ... But it's not just the health system. The impact on families is costing in the billions. The loss of income, the loss of productive years."
Mrs Carter recommended families get active. "Have fun, go to the park. Kids need to grow up thinking it's fun to exercise."
She said it was important to make conscious decisions about what you ate and to teach your children good eating habits.
"Overweight children turn into overweight adults."
Liz Davies, Toi Te Ora Public Health's promotions manger, said food decisions were hard for many Bay families who struggled for access to cheap, good food.
"People aren't eating as much fruit and veges. It's cheaper to buy Coke compared with milk ... Highly processed foods are often the cheapest choice."
Ms Davies said the best way to prevent obesity was to increase activity levels.
This week, Sport Bay of Plenty and the Western Bay Primary Health Organisation, (which represents local GPs), signed an agreement promising to work more closely together to get Bay residents exercising.
They already have an exercise recovery programme set up called "green prescription".
Doctors and practice nurses were literally prescribing a good dose of exercise and referring patients to Sport BOP.
Heidi Lichtwark, Sports BOP sector development manager, said they then identified what exercise that person would most enjoy.
"The lifestyle of people is a key issue. We need to find ways to change behaviour," she said.
The "green prescription" programme had been running for the past six years but only went fulltime two years ago.
More than 40 people a month were now referred by the 30 participating GP practices for the three-month minimum term. Most participants were over the age of 35 but they had also received 17-year-olds and an 89-year-old referral.
It has been successful so far, with 68 per cent of its participants still involved in physical activity a year later.
"That's really exciting. In terms of a recovery programme, that's a really high success rate," Ms Lichtwark said.
A health board co-ordinator is also starting work next week to launch HEHA - a Healthy Eating, Healthy Action initiative. The aim is to help different Government agencies and community organisations to work together to change eating habits and lifestyles.
* To work out your body mass index, measure and weigh yourself in metres and kilograms. Multiply your height by your height, ie 1.7m x 1.7m = 2.89. Divide your weight by that figure, ie 70kg / 2.89 = 24.
Anywhere between 20-24 is a healthy weight. Above that is overweight and over 30 is obese.
For Pacific and Maori people a BMI of 32 is used to define obesity.
TOP STORY: Plan targets Bay's 70,000 overweight people
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