Despite efforts by health organizations, various levels of governments and community leaders, the rate of obesity among Canadian adults and children continues to rise.
Globe and Mail public health reporter André Picard took your questions earlier Thursday for a live discussion on the topic.
Most recently, Mr. Picard wrote in the Globe about the alarming level of declining health and inactivity of the Baby Boomer generation in his article Boomers' lifestyle a ticking time bomb. He also documented the rapid rate of morbid obesity in this country in his story Fat getting fatter, a study which found that the number of morbidly obese people in Canada has quadrupled since 1985.
And last summer, Mr. Picard informed Globe readers that two out of every three Canadian adults, and one out of every three children, was overweight in 2005.
Mr. Picard has written extensively on public health issues and has been honoured by many bodies for his outstanding work over the years. He has been nominated for National Newspaper Awards in beat reporting for his work on such stories as the impact of the SARS outbreak on nurses; the dangers to young hockey players from body-checking; and the health effects of trans fatty acids. He has also been honoured numerous times by the Pan American Health Organization's Centennial Journalism award program, the Canadian Nurses Association; and has won the Canadian Policy Research Media Award and a Michener Award. Mr. Picard, who is based in Montreal, was on the forefront of reporting on Canada's tainted blood crisis in 1992, going on to write hundreds of stories about the men who died. He wrote On The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada's Tainted Blood Tragedy about this low point in Canada's health care history.
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Allison Dunfield, globeandmail.com. Hi, André, and thanks very much for joining us today to discuss obesity. Although it seems like great effort has been made by various health organizations, different levels of government and even the food industry to some extent, Canadians' waistlines continue to expand. What do you think the greatest obstacle to helping Canadians achieve healthier weights? Is there something that should be tried that hasn't been attempted yet?
André Picard writes: It's time to shift the focus from blaming individuals for being fat to understanding how the environment we live in discourages healthy living. We won't have a healthy society until it is easy--and normal--to be physically active (by this I mean activities of daily living, not planned exercise) and as long as unhealthy food is much cheaper and more accessible than healthy food.
We need to understand how we can fundamentally alter the environment so the healthy choice is the easy choice. That means rethinking the way public policy is created and implemented in a broad range of areas, including urban planning, transportation, education, agriculture, taxation and social policy.
I think the immediate focus needs to be on infrastructure, including urban design and planning, so we are less dependent on automobiles. We also cannot overlook the social and economic determinants of health. Obesity is a disproportionately large problem among the poor. It is hard to be healthy when you struggle to get by.
Greg Ast from Nanoose Bay Canada writes: I'm concerned about the cost of obesity on our health care system. Are there any programs in place by the provincial governments to show Canadians what the cost of overeating is to our pocket books, never mind the cost to our quality of life? We watched Participaction ads in the 80's and 90's and I think those certainly helped me to improve my lifestyle choices.
