Jacqui Southey: Save the Children Advocacy Director on the UN report into childhood obesity

Calls for swift intervention to keep our young people healthy.  

A United Nations report suggests 9.4% of those aged five to 19-years-old are obese, and 9.2% are underweight. 

In the year 2000, 12% were underweight and just 3% were obese.  

Save the Children Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey told Ryan Bridge there needs to be better education around what is and isn't healthy.  

She says some products may appear healthy but are actually packed with sugars, salts, and fats. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More children are now obese than they are underweight globally
nine point two percent underweight, nine point four percent considered
too big. Those numbers in the year two thousand, just
to give you some context, thirteen percent underweight and just
three percent obese. Jackie Saldy saved the children in New
Zealand with us this morning. Jackie, good morning, Good morning, Ryansiz.

(00:22):
What do you think when you hear that?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Deeply concerning and this is something that we need to
take urgent action on. Globally, one and twenty children under
five years of Asia under five are obese and this
rises to twenty percent of children aged five to nineteen
who are living with overweight and this is deeply concerning
and the direct results with the food environment that they
are growing up in.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Where are the kids that are obese? Which countries rich ones?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, they're rich and poor now. And we're seeing this
spread globally other than Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia.
And this is a real problem because there's a food
environments change. Cheaply, ultra processed, aggressively market marketed foods at
children and adolescents is becoming more and more available. And
this is food that is really high in sugar, fats, salts, colors,

(01:11):
and must size and flavors. It is not it is
not healthy food. It is not the fruits, vegetables and
meat or high protein options that we need to be
living on.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
How do you what proportion you said that it's poor
and rich and poor countries? Is do rich countries generally
have a bigger problem with obesity than poorer ones?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, that was the pattern earlier, but this report shows
that those patterns are now changing and it is both rich. Well,
it's middle income has really up in their obesity stats,
but so have the poorer countries where we would not
have expected to see this, And this is because of
the importing of cheap, highly processed food that is now

(01:50):
it's easier to buy and cheaper to buyer than are
healthy unprocessed food.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
How do you stop that then, If it's you know,
you could do regulations in wealthier countries, how on earth
do you stop them in poorer or middle income countries.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, again, it's about the regulation, it's about the food
that's being imported. In marketing, it's about those food production
systems making it affordable for farmers to be producing the
food in the first place, and then that you know
farm gate to plate concept where it's not going through
so many layers of process and profits and cost. It's
cost on cost, and so we need to make healthy

(02:23):
food accessible and more available, and it takes government systems
to do that. And then if we are allowing the
importing of really expect so really cheap food that's highly processed.
It's shiny, it looks good, but actually when you look
at the back of the packet, it's full of sugar,
salts and facts, but it might have fruits on the cover.
It's just simply misleading. We need better education for parents

(02:46):
and children so they know what they're choosing and labeling
the big part of that. I mean, you've got to
look at the fine print on the back to see
how much sugar is in something, whereas we should have
how many tea springs of sugar are upfront easier to see, well,
this is thirteen tea springs of sugar in it, and
a daily intake for child should only before.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Jackie, appreciate your time, Jackie Salvey from Save the Children
in New Zealand. For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge,
listen live to news talks. It'd be from five am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.