Australian Medical Association

An increasing number of Australians are at a high risk of serious disease and premature death because of excess body weight or obesity. The National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Clinical Guidelines on the Management of Overweight and Obesity is an important resource for medical practitioners who identify and support patients who are overweight and obese.  Medical practitioners also play a preventive role in identifying those patients who are at risk of becoming overweight, particularly children and young people.  

The AMA believes that a key challenge is to ensure that the Clinical Guidelines are practical and easy for medical practitioners to adopt as part of their clinical practice.  The AMA's Submission highlights the key role of medical practitioners in preventing overweight and obesity, particularly among children and young people, as well as providing support to those patients who wish to lose or maintain their current body weight.  The AMA Submission advocates around the development (with appropriate consultation) of practical resources, such as short term eating plans, evidence summaries, multi media videos and fact sheets that can support medical practitioners and patients in this area.

Food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly.  Concerning trends have been observed in the eating habits of many Australians and the implications are serious. The National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Draft Australian Dietary Guidelines 2011 provides population level guidance on healthy eating patterns and related guidance for health professionals.  

The AMA's Submission highlights that a range of measures is needed to improve nutritional literacy, including education on energy needs and portion sizes, improved food labelling, and affordable access to healthy food options.  The AMA Submission also identifies a need for practical resources aimed at medical practitioners including access to a database of locally available supports such dieticians, healthy cooking classes and walking groups.

MJA release - A quarter of secondary school students are overweight or obese, and lifestyle and socioeconomic status are implicated, according to research published in the 20 February issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

It is difficult for Australian families to find the right information they need to make healthy choices about the food they consume. The AMA believes that a system of Traffic Light labelling on food products can provide easy to understand nutritional information for people to make those choices. This AMA paper publication details the evidence for a Traffic Light system of labelling and its advantages compared to alternative approaches.

It is difficult for Australian families to find the right information they need to make healthy choices about the food they consume. This AMA publication outlines the case for a Traffic Light system of labelling on food products to ensure that consumers can easily recognise and compare the healthiness of food products.

MJA release - Weight loss programs have a high long-term failure rate because once people become obese, their bodies are programmed to regain any weight that they manage to lose, according to an article in the Medical Journal of Australia.

New research shows that self-regulation has failed dismally in reducing junk food advertising during children’s television viewing times.

After nearly two years of self-regulation by the fast food industry, children’s exposure to junk food advertising is unchanged.

AMA Vice President, Professor Geoffrey Dobb, said today that junk food advertising to kids must be banned through Government regulation because the industry has not been effective in regulating itself.

MJA release - Deaths from pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) are on the rise and may be linked to obesity, according to a letter to the editor in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide Roger Byard and his co-author said that while attention is often focused on complications of obesity such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cardiac disease, there is also a link to PTE.

AMA Vice President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the AMA strongly supports a ban on the broadcast advertising of junk food to children, particularly during children’s television times.

MJA media release - The worsening severity in sleep-disordered breathing is primarily attributable to increases in obesity, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Jeffery Pretto, Stephen Gyulay and Professor Michael Hensley, from the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at the John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, and School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle, conducted a study aimed at describing trends in sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) severity and whether incidences and severity changed in the Hunter New England region between 1987 and 2007.

Dr Jeffery Pretto said that between 1987 and 2007, 14,648 new diagnostic sleep studies were performed.