Editorial: Our bad habits leading children to early death

WE ARE teaching our children to kill themselves. Through our eating choices and sedentary lifestyles, we are modelling ways of living that will shorten our children’s lives by decades, writes The Editor.

OVER recent years we have heard the word “diabetes” more and more often in discussions about public health, diet and issues around the rise of excessive weight and obesity among the population.

Medical professionals warn of a pandemic of the disease. But perversely, the more we hear, it appears almost that we pay less attention – its prevalence somehow becoming normalised.

It is worth pausing to actually think about diabetes and its effects. They can be devastating.

In addition to stroke and coronary heart disease, it can lead to ulcerated sores, which are difficult or impossible to heal. It can lead to amputations, perhaps beginning with a toe. And then more toes. A foot. Part of a leg, below the knee. Then more above it. Then a second leg.

It can lead to days every week spent hooked up to a dialysis machine to keep the kidneys functioning and the patient alive. It can rob people of their eyesight.

And yet, all this suffering is largely avoidable. While the collection of conditions includes the unpreventable type 1 as well as gestational diabetes, the vast majority of cases are type 2, with an inescapable link to diet and lifestyle.

The younger a person develops diabetes, the more aggressive the condition and the worse the associated complications.

Just over a million Australians have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, with half as many again believed to have it without having been diagnosed yet.

For so many people to spend the latter years of their lives suffering that way would be a tragedy. What makes it an outrage is that it is not just older people afflicted, but middle-aged and, increasingly, young people.

Elissa Lawrence’s special report in today’s Qweekend magazine highlights the growth in the number of people being diagnosed and suffering serious health impacts while still aged in their 30s or 20s. Even more disturbing is that children are now developing diabetes.

Official – albeit voluntary – registrations record 209 children aged under 15 with the disease in Australia, including 70 in Queensland. But Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital director Professor Jerry Wales – an expert and a leading flag-bearer for radical change – says the real number is probably 10 times that.

The younger a person develops diabetes, the more aggressive the condition and the worse the associated complications. This is a public health crisis.

Not a looming crisis, but an existing one, from which the impacts will be felt for years to come.

It’s one that demands to be taken absolutely seriously. By governments in their policy development covering everything from health education to active transport; by the food industry with its perpetuation of fats-heavy and sugar-laden products.

But most of all, by us – as individuals, and as parents and grandparents.

The medical profession is now witnessing intergenerational diabetes.

Diabetes specialist Professor Jerry Wales at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital. Picture: AAP/Josh Woning

We are teaching our children to kill themselves. Through our eating choices and sedentary lifestyles, we are modelling ways of living that will shorten our children’s lives by decades.

We have eradicated previous childhood scourges such as polio through the development of immunisation. And today we quite rightly condemn those in the anti-vaxxer movement. But there is no vaccine for diabetes. It’s up to us to control it through behavioural change.

It is easy to understand the frustration of people such as Prof Wales and calls for Singaporean-style mandatory programs in schools with exercise targets for children identified at risk of obesity.

But such legislation would be
overly draconian and potentially counter-productive. Low esteem and mental health issues – frequently contributory to excess weight problems – would hardly be helped by placing youngsters in the “fat class”.

However, we do see merit in making space in the timetable for physical activity throughout the entirety of school life, with a greater emphasis on exercise as fun rather than a focus on competition, which deters many children from regular physical activity well into their adult years.

BRONCOS KEEP EYE ON BALL

IT’S a big weekend for the Brisbane Broncos and their supporters.

The team carries the best wishes and hopes of many Queenslanders as they line up against the St George Illawarra Dragons in a do-or-die final at what is sure to be a fired-up crowd at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

It has been a tumultuous season for the Broncos, with the long-running saga surrounding coach Wayne Bennett’s future ensuring as much intrigue off-field as there has been action on it.

Whatever the result tomorrow, Bennett and his players deserve credit for managing to maintain their focus on the football and making it to the final eight this year.

Of course, we will be hoping there is more excitement to come in the finals series as they push on towards a seventh premiership.

Broncos player Joe Ofahengaue and his girlfriend Sofi Leota, who has been battling breast cancer. Picture: Tara Croser

Among the standout stars this season has been Joe Ofahengaue. And today’s story on the courageous battle waged by the star forward’s partner Sofi Leota, with his support, is a timely reminder that, for all their profile and adulation, these players are ultimately people who may be facing trials and tribulations we are unaware of.

We wish this brave young couple all health and happiness as they move forward and aim for a family.

It is also a very special weekend for the Broncos as their women’s squad take to the pitch ahead of the elimination final for their inaugural game in the NRL Holden Women’s Premiership.

This is a true game-changer in the history of the sport.

The Brisbane women are among the favourites to claim the first female title and we look forward to them providing plenty of thrills over the coming months and years.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Sam Weir, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details are available at couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us