Child obesity checks should start from birth, say "experts"

Which means that it is mostly inborn behaviour that they will be trying to change! When will people start to rebel against this ever-growing intrusion into their personal lives?

Children should be weighed and monitored for obesity from birth to stop them becoming unhealthy, fat adults, according to researchers. The experts argue the Federal Government's Healthy Kids Check plan to weigh all children from the age of four from next year is leaving it too late, given one in five children are already overweight by the age of three.

Their advice comes as a senior Adelaide heart specialist predicted the nation would fail to cut obesity levels over the next 20 years unless it developed new strategies to tackle the "complex" epidemic. Dr Anthea Magarey, a dietician with the Childhood Obesity Research Group at Flinders University, and colleague Rebecca Perry want the Federal Government to consider an ongoing monitoring system - starting from birth - of children's weight, diet and activity.

While sometimes early weight gain may be "puppy fat" which disappears with a growth spurt, they say it can often instead be the start of an ongoing weight problem linked to poor eating habits. "If you're monitoring a child you can identify where their weight is increasing disproportionate to their height," Dr Magarey said. "They may not be overweight or obese yet, but it can ring a few bells and then we can say ok, maybe we should be looking at what this child is eating and what their activity levels are." Parents whose children were putting on excessive weight for their age and height could then receive advice about how to properly feed them.

The plan comes as advertising companies have rejected a proposal to ban junk food advertising to children, arguing the term "junk food" is "derogatory" and that all food is healthy. The Australian Association of National Advertisers has also tried to downplay the obesity epidemic, citing a Commonwealth study this year that showed "no appreciable change in childhood obesity levels since 1995". "The claimed 'epidemic' has been exposed as a deliberate attempt at misinformation of the Australian public and its politicians," it says in comments made to the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The association argued that it would be "unreasonable and unjust" to place impositions on television advertising. "There is overwhelming evidence that food and beverages advertising to children is neither the primary nor a significant contributor to childhood obesity."

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The mayhem in North Queensland public hospitals continues

And all the managers and administrators have been no help at all. The cardiac unit at Townsville had to be closed because of infighting and now Cairns hospital seems to be going down the same road

QUEENSLAND Health faces unprecedented legal action after a report found a junior surgeon was harassed by senior Cairns Base Hospital doctors. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, in an independent review, cleared doctor Heng-chin Chiam, 39, of allegations of incompetence and botched surgery. The father of three, who has been off work on five months stress leave was a "cautious but safe surgeon" whose medical skill could not be faulted, the audit found. The University of Queensland-educated specialist was a victim of "harassment" allowed to "fester" by management, it said.

CBH director of surgery Christina Steffen, who stood down in defence of Dr Chiam, yesterday told The Courier-Mail the findings opened the way for legal action. She said it was a clear case of "workplace mobbing" by a group at the hospital. "This is a surgeon who has had his whole career destroyed where there is no basis and nothing proven," Dr Steffen said. She said they had both been the victims of the "virus" or "cancer" of malicious rumour and unfounded accusations.

Queensland Health did not respond to questions about the alleged workplace harassment, except to say "all appropriate action will be taken".

Dr Chiam said he had been hurt and demoralised by the claims, made in secrecy under the Whistleblowers Act, but still wanted to return to work. The medico had been investigated twice before for the same complaint but both internal inquiries found no evidence to support the allegations. Dr Chiam felt he had been denied natural justice.

Four surgical procedures a week had to be cancelled with the two full-time surgeons on stress leave. Two months ago, a separate inquiry was launched when Dr Steffen revealed concerns of a party culture at the hospital. She claims that a group of doctors held a booze-fuelled staff meeting and joked about a patient who bled to death on the operating table. "When there is a power vacuum such as at Cairns Base Hospital with a transient ... administration, it allows the formation of these powerful cliques," Dr Steffen said.

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White 'gatekeepers' part of black problem

Leftist knowalls hinder rather than help

INDIGENOUS leader Warren Mundine has attacked ideologically driven white "gatekeepers" in Aboriginal communities, saying one of the biggest problems they have is "people who want to protect Aboriginal people". "There are some people who seem to go to these communities who, quite frankly, wouldn't get a job outside," Mr Mundine said. "There are other ones who go there who are totally ideologically driven and become gatekeepers. In fact one of the biggest problems we have is people who want to protect Aboriginal people. "It drives me to no end of madness. "We have people also who are going into the communities and they are not moving on and letting Aboriginal people move up and take over those positions."

The former national Labor president's comments came after indigenous educator Chris Sarra sparked an angry reaction when he told The Weekend Australian that while Aborigines were blamed for the dysfunction in their communities, the standard of services and the people providing them were not subject to the same scrutiny. "In its crudest form, remote communities are the place to tuck our white trash away," Dr Sarra said.

While Mr Mundine said he thought Dr Sarra's comments were a bit strong, he understood his frustration, particularly in the area of education, "because the statistics are telling us that the education system is failing Aboriginal people miserably and has been failing Aboriginal people for a long time".

Dr Sarra, executive director of the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute at the Queensland University of Technology, yesterday retreated from his choice of words, saying he would never use the term again. "If I had my time again I would use the term lazy and incompetent," he said.

But he stood by his central claim that white workers in education, health, police and public service who would not be able to hold down jobs in larger communities were a major part of the problem for Aboriginal Australia. "I stand by what I said - the language was unfortunate," he said. "A lot of people are saying this (the white trash comment) is stereotyping and this is despicable language and I absolutely agree with them," Dr Sarra said. "I had not intended it to bemalicious." But he said experienced and hardworking white people in remote communities would not be offended by the comments "because they know exactly what I'm talking about".

Dr Sarra said after his comments in The Weekend Australian he had received many emails saying his language was not acceptable. He is also being heavily criticised by readers on The Australian's website. One reader wrote: "Imagine if a white academic, or any academic or anyone for that matter, called Dr Sarra a black bum or wog. Not acceptable these days, but reverse racism, no make that, racism full stop against whites is acceptable." Another wrote: "I am an electrician that has worked out at several communities does that make me white trash?"

Dr Sarra himself posted a response yesterday: "Imagine then what it is like for Aboriginal people to be continually described stereotypically as drunks, child abusers, wife bashers, and some of the things that some of you describe here, when clearly this is not the absolute truth." He told The Australian he agreed with many of the criticisms because the phrase he had used was despicable. But he said there was a common saying in many Aboriginal communities - "upright and with a heart beat" (if you are upright and have a heartbeat you are good enough to teach).

He said he was told recently of a school in Queensland where on Fridays it was common for only half the students to turn up. The teachers took those who did turn up fishing or swimming, but a good teacher, he said, would use the opportunity of a smaller class to better help those who had attended.

Mr Mundine also yesterday backed the Northern Territory Government's plan to force Aboriginal bilingual schools to teach the first four hours of classes each day in English.

The principal of the Areyonga School, Tarna Andrews, said that English was a second or third language for many of the school's 42 children and the new policy spelled the end of a focus on traditional Pitjantjatjara language and culture. "I want to keep my language going in the school, the kids' language - we want to keep the kids in two ways, not only one way," she told ABC radio. "It will die, the language will die. The school is a place where the kids learn proper language."

Mr Mundine said he supported bilingual education. While English provided the tools for living in "the real world", traditional languages enhanced culture and self-esteem. "Kids have to learn in English and they have to learn the maths and the sciences as well. If they don't do that, they are being retarded and they're not able to function in the job market, or in the wider Australian or world communities," he said.

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Black dog danger for coronary patients

Not exactly surprising that a heart attack would make you depressed but the much poorer outcome among depressed patients is interesting. Gordon Parker is a very old hand at depression research and I think he may be onto something here

HEART attack patients should be screened for depression in the months after they leave hospital, a ground-breaking Australian study suggests. Low mood that develops following a cardiac event significantly increases the risk of death or readmission, research by the Black Dog Institute found. But the increased risk only applies to coronary patients who are experiencing a depressive episode for the first time, and not to those who had a history of depression before, or at the time of, their heart attack.

The discovery challenges the long-held view that a lifetime of depression or being depressed at the time of the heart attack increases the risk of subsequent cardiac death or readmission to hospital. "The study suggests that the time to screen people is once they've left hospital and in the months afterwards," said Professor Gordon Parker, executive director for the institute. "There is no need to screen people when they are admitted and prescribe antidepressants as a public policy, yet that has been the [standard] wisdom."

The study evaluated 500 patients from the cardiac ward at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital for lifetime and current depression. Their progress was tracked for 12 months and even after taking into account cardiac risk factors such as age, gender and smoking status, depression that developed in the month after the heart attack increased the patient's odds of cardiac readmission - or death - up to seven times.

Professor Parker said the discovery suggests depression which occurs soon after a heart attack may be a different, more physical type than that experienced by lifetime sufferers - which may explain the increased effect on the heart.

He said: "We know there are a number of biological changes that occur in depressed patients that may be related to their poorer cardiac outcome, such as increased blood clotting, sympathetic nervous system activity and inflammation."

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