Introducing Fight the Obesity Epidemic
FOE (Fight the Obesity Epidemic) is a Charitable Trust aiming to stop and reverse the rise of obesity and type 2 diabetes in New Zealand. Our vision is a New Zealand where once again type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related diseases are unknown among children and adolescents.
FOE’s predecessor, Fight the Obesity Epidemic, was a voluntary society formed in 2001. The FOE New Zealand Trust was formed in June 2007 and inherited the society’s assets. The four current trustees, including FOE spokesperson Dr Robyn Toomath, were all previously members of the society’s Executive Committee.
Why is there an obesity epidemic?
FOE shares with many other New Zealanders the view that obesity is a normal response to an abnormal environment. Food high in energy and low in nutrients is more available, cheap and heavily marketed. And while we take in more calories, we expend less energy as a result of reduced physical activity as a normal part of daily life.
What does FOE want to happen?
Strategies based on changing individual behaviour through education and information provision will not be successful. Reliance on people’s willpower to eat less and exercise more is not the answer. FOE believes that its vision can only be realised by changing the current “obesogenic” environment. Healthy choices need to be made the easy or default choices.
FOE sees its role as helping to convince New Zealanders that changing the environment to make healthy choices easier can and must be achieved. Changes that are needed include:
- Banning or severely restricting the marketing of unhealthy food to children
- Introducing compulsory labels on food, such as a traffic light system, that enable shoppers to easily identify healthy and unhealthy foods
- Ending sponsorship of schools and children’s sport by junk food companies
- Introducing tax changes and/or subsidies to make healthy food more affordable relative to less healthy food
- Making changes to the built environment and transport systems that promote more walking and cycling and less reliance on motorised transport.
What does FOE do?
FOE is raising awareness about obesity and its prevention by means such as:
- Seeking and accepting opportunities to promote messages about obesity prevention in the media
- Publishing reports and publicising their findings
- Producing an on-line newsletter (Obesity News) about current developments and initiatives both in New Zealand and elsewhere
- Making submissions on issues relating to obesity prevention such as the Health Select Committee Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes, and the review of advertising codes
- Commissioning a public opinion poll that demonstrated very high levels of support for changes to the obesogenic environment.
How can you help?
There are many ways individuals and organisations can join the fight against obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
