Professor Olver pointed out that obesity is more prevalent in areas of low socioeconomic status. I think governments have to adopt a very broad approach to this, he said. At one end of the scale there is making sure that good food is both available and affordable; at the other end of the scale it ™s perhaps restricting advertising to children of junk food that will be harmful to them, he added. Dr Roberts said parents also need to take responsibility. This study showed that the majority of students have at least three television sets in their homes and almost half of them have a TV in their bedroom There ™s really recent research that shows that if you ™ve got a TV in a bedroom it ™s associated with a risk of [being] overweight, particularly amongst males, she explained.

Everyone can do their bit say both organizations. For example Patrick O ™Reilly is the principal of Southern Cross Vocational College in Sydney, where they have incorporated the preparation of healthy meals for the students into their hospitality course.