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It’s a sad day when a company that sells a cancer delivery system is suing the Australian Government for damage to their brand and trademarks. This is based on the proposal to introduce plain packaging with an olive green colour with the brand name. I maintain that if cigarette packaging does not influence or pursued prospective smokers why would you bother to sue?

Phillip Morris, one of the big American tobacco companies has threatened litigation if plain packaging legislation proceeds.

It’s funny how the tobacco company has suddenly become concerned of the government’s action being unconstitutional, well if taking steps to save lives is being unconstitutional it’s a very sad day.

The facts are chilling, 5,000 Australians a year die from smoking related illness with the costs to our health care system and our society $31.5 billion each year.

Written by Andrew Talati

This cordless Secateur from Bosch – the Ciso – is one of new range of body energy saving devices that raise some interesting questions about how much more sedentary our lives can become.

In Australia we’re experiencing an increase in the average house footprint with a corresponding decrease in the size of the average suburban block.

But even with shrinking gardens and smaller lawns, we’re also seeing a corresponding increase in the number of energy-saving devices that reduce our level of  physical exertion.

Everything has become powered these days. We now use hedge trimmers and leaf blowers where once we just got out the broom or large secateurs. And it’s taking a toll on our physical health.

While cordless secateurs are a great invention for those suffering from an impairment or injury that restricts their full range of motion, there are concerns whether there is really enough demand to produce such a product.

There’s an old saying – use it or lose it .  Over a lifetime, being sedentary leads to the possibility of insufficient grip strength to perform even simple tasks. Muscles atrophy and waste away through inactivity.

A common test to determine someone’s biological age is the “Grip strength” test.  Using a pair of secateurs is one practical example where a deterioration in grip strength affects a simple task such as pruning a rose bush.

And with concerns about the implications of global warming and conspicuous consumption, a great way to reduce the impact on the planet of landfill and the associated disposal of toxic chemicals from batteries – and keep our grip strength into old age -  is to use our plain old, battery-free secateurs.

Written by Andrew Talati

The child obesity rate in Australia is  disturbing. It currently stands at 25% of children being overweight or obese with a big contributing factor being the intake of too many processed foods.

According to the Australasian Society for the study of obesity conducted between 1985 and 1995, the overweight/obese rates for children almost tripled over a ten-year period.

There is overwhelming evidence to support that the latest generation will be the first generation that has a lower life expectancy than their parents. The most disturbing consequence of this alarming statistic is that this leads to psychosocial problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type II diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea. While the mechanics of this comes down to the simple equation of energy intake versus energy expenditure we can break the equation down into 4 main areas:

Energy Intake:
1.Genetic factors
2.Unhealthy eating habits
Energy Expenditure
3.lifestyle and environmental factors 4.Lack of physical activity

One overwhelming factor seems to be the high level of processed foods we are consuming as a society.

As we become more affluent and time poor we are turning to processed and take away food as an alternative to cooking at home.

While there may be a belief that it’s cheaper to buy processed/takeaway food, it’s a misconception. Buying the basics – fruit, vegetables and meat – is not only cheaper, your body will thank you for it, too.

Written by Andrew Talati

With two thirds of the Australian population overweight or obese, there really needs to be some regulations regarding food packaging and advertising. KFC latest product, the Double Down Burger users the Man time copy line, with a massive 1939 kJ.

While a person’s daily energy intake will vary depending on your age, sex, body size and the level of activity that you engage in, a 31-year-old to 50-year-old male weighing 71 kg requires 8300kj per day based on no physical activities, just to sustain life.

So in just one sitting without the added chips or soft drink nearly a quarter of the days energy requirements are up represented by this fat laden burger (22.3gms).

This advertisement appeared on Facebook under a clients profile who is in their mid-20s. This type of advertising is extremely clever as it targets teenage boys who see the high levels of fat as a gastronomic challenge while men may find this targeting their masculinity.

This is a classic case where food labeling is required that identifies this as a high health risk product given the high percentage of energy and fat.

A tax on energy dense foods would make such products extremely expensive and would remove their attractiveness as a product to be consumed on a regular basis.

This is a classic example where one would need to really evaluate KFC’s motivation in bringing out such a highly energy dense product when they’re recommending that the clients climb the stairs to burn 930 kJ which is just under half the energy contained with this one burger.

Without singling out KFC, the other fast food companies are hardly squeaky clean with hungry Jack’s ultimate double whopper burger packing our humongous 5085 kJ and McDonald’s the Mac having 2060 kJ. I guess the most disturbing thing about the KFC double down burger is the fact that there is no bread and vegetables whatsoever, just meat or rather processed meat and preservatives.

Hopefully this product stimulates a lot of debate about advertising standards, food packaging and perhaps even a energy tax.

It’s great to see the Victorian government giving reimbursements for businesses to undertake health checks amongst their staff.

In November 2011, Work health released the findings of the Work Health Checks for workers who participated in the program. The survey results band 200,000 workers across rural and metropolitan areas.

Part of the health checks involves checking biometric and physical measurements to determine the general state the person’s health as well as it freed disposition to risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The testing involved looking at the workers waist circumference, blood cholesterol, low pressure and blood glucose levels.

While the root results for risk is coded that cardiovascular disease was 17% for moderate to high, the most disturbing results been for type II diabetes with 66% being in the intermediate to high risk category. The combined risk averaged out at 15.6% of all workers for contracting type II diabetes for cardiovascular disease.

Similarly the other biometric indicators of high blood pressure cholesterol were also markedly high with proportionate negative correlation with fruit and vegetable intake With 90% of the workers having the adequate fruit and vegetable intake.

This is a positive step in determining actual state of workers health and taking appropriate steps to address this disturbing statistics.

Currently businesses that turn over less than 10 million are entitled to a full reimbursement for work health checks and those business turning over 10 million are entitled to a $40 reimbursement toward costs of conducting health checks.