A "shocking" national rate of diabetes is being battled by Sport Southland athletics co-ordinators, who have more than 900 people enrolled in a free programme designed to reduce obesity.
The latest Adult Nutrition Survey – set to be released next month – is likely to show that adult weight gain has increased beyond the 3.2kg average increase in adults reported between 1989 and 1997, an open letter to the New Zealand Medical Journal stated last month.
The letter was from a University of Otago research team, who sent a follow-up statement on Friday, pointing out obesity accounts for more than 80 per cent of preventable diabetes in New Zealand and they believed it was not being vigorously addressed.
Sport Southland active lifestyles manager Yvette Hodges said the athletic programme being run in Invercargill was taking obesity – and diabetes – seriously. About 15 per cent of those enrolled in the 900-strong adult Green Prescription programme have diabetes.
The programme – which offers three months of free consultation on fitness and nutrition – is funded by the Health Ministry but relies on the enthusiasm of directors such as Ms Hodges, who said the programme had caught on because it was free.
Participants are categorised as "green" by their doctor – a written note of advice to a patient to be physically active – which is given to staff at Sport Southland who then set up a consultation with the patient.
"We help a person make an individual plan based on the written advice from a doctor. It's supporting people to be more active and we're the ones communicating with the doctor to get a signoff so it doesn't cost them any money," Ms Hodges
The programme also targets families with children aged five to 18, and right now 35 Southland families are enrolled. It also has an off-shoot called Active Teen.
A third of the children enrolled in the programme nationally had lost weight, Ms Hodges
Associate Professor Louise Signal from Otago University's Wellington campus, said the alarmingly high rate of diabetes was getting worse.
"The worrying thing is that even now, 2 per cent to 7 per cent of the health budget – $12.6 million – is linked to people being overweight or obese. Obesity-related diabetes is costing us hundreds of millions a year and rising."
Dr Signal did not have specific statistics for diabetes rates in Southland but said communities should continue to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviourMs Hodges agreed that it was a struggle to get kids away from television and video games, buts that in general, she found kids in Southland pretty keen to be active in some form.
The latest Adult Nutrition Survey – set to be released next month – is likely to show that adult weight gain has increased beyond the 3.2kg average increase in adults reported between 1989 and 1997, an open letter to the New Zealand Medical Journal stated last month.
The letter was from a University of Otago research team, who sent a follow-up statement on Friday, pointing out obesity accounts for more than 80 per cent of preventable diabetes in New Zealand and they believed it was not being vigorously addressed.
Sport Southland active lifestyles manager Yvette Hodges said the athletic programme being run in Invercargill was taking obesity – and diabetes – seriously. About 15 per cent of those enrolled in the 900-strong adult Green Prescription programme have diabetes.
The programme – which offers three months of free consultation on fitness and nutrition – is funded by the Health Ministry but relies on the enthusiasm of directors such as Ms Hodges, who said the programme had caught on because it was free.
Participants are categorised as "green" by their doctor – a written note of advice to a patient to be physically active – which is given to staff at Sport Southland who then set up a consultation with the patient.
"We help a person make an individual plan based on the written advice from a doctor. It's supporting people to be more active and we're the ones communicating with the doctor to get a signoff so it doesn't cost them any money," Ms Hodges
The programme also targets families with children aged five to 18, and right now 35 Southland families are enrolled. It also has an off-shoot called Active Teen.
A third of the children enrolled in the programme nationally had lost weight, Ms Hodges
Associate Professor Louise Signal from Otago University's Wellington campus, said the alarmingly high rate of diabetes was getting worse.
"The worrying thing is that even now, 2 per cent to 7 per cent of the health budget – $12.6 million – is linked to people being overweight or obese. Obesity-related diabetes is costing us hundreds of millions a year and rising."
Dr Signal did not have specific statistics for diabetes rates in Southland but said communities should continue to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviourMs Hodges agreed that it was a struggle to get kids away from television and video games, buts that in general, she found kids in Southland pretty keen to be active in some form.
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