Olympians unlikely to inspire change

IRELAND’S OLYMPIC medal winners are unlikely to inspire an increase in physical activity by ordinary people, a seminar on obesity has heard.

There is no evidence from previous games of an “Olympic effect” encouraging people to take up sport, according to Dr Niamh Murphy, director of the centre for health behaviour research at Waterford Institute of Technology. “We’ve all heard of people picking up their racquets every year after Wimbledon but . . . there’s no evidence [such activity is maintained].”

Dr Murphy, a former international athlete, said there were too many short-term, disconnected and unco-ordinated initiatives in Ireland to tackle obesity. “Everyone is doing stuff in their own silos and there is no national discussion.”

While these gained media attention it did not mean anything was happening at government level. With less than 10 per cent of teenage girls getting enough exercise every day, it was “not acceptable” for schools not to have indoor exercise areas or to be emphasising winning over participation.

Sailor and Olympian Annalise Murphy told the conference organised by the Nutrition and Health Foundation of her “brilliant life experience” from sport, and said healthy eating was an intrinsic part of her training regimen.

Prof Richard Tiffin of the University of Reading said his research showed a fat tax on food would have a marginal effect on people’s diets and would hit the poorest in society most. “It will save people’s lives but it won’t cure obesity,” he said. A food tax would increase inequality, regardless of the level of the tax.

The master of the National Maternity Hospital, Dr Rhona O’Mahony, pointed to the large increase in the size of women attending Holles Street over the past 30 years. Almost four in 10 women giving birth in the hospital are overweight, with massive health consequences for themselves and their babies, she said.

She said heavier mothers have resulted in heavier babies, with one in five newborns weighing over 4 kg.

Big babies have a much greater risk of becoming obese in childhood, and their appetite may be formed while in the uterus.

Prof Mary Flynn of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland said infant feeding practices were shocking. Babies under six months were being fed “chocolate pudding, Coca-Cola and Chipsticks” although their digestive systems were not ready for solid foods.