Addressing obesity is a personal responsibility, poll says
Eighty per cent of Australians believe exercise and eating less junk food are the best ways to address obesity, according to a new public opinion poll by Research Australia.
Research Australia Chief Executive Officer Rebecca James said the finding suggests most people believe obesity is a result of daily lifestyle choices and their own personal responsibility.
“Only half the community supported tougher Government regulations on fast food outlets while three quarters wanted more education for families on preparing healthy food,” she said. Almost half of the community (45%) believe environmental problems have affected their health.
This year’s poll surveyed opinion on the use of recycled and desalinated water in the context of drought. Only around one third of Australians (36%) were prepared to drink recycled water, and 58% desalinated water. Most of the community was happy to use recycled water for household non-drinking purposes.
The public opinion poll also examined community attitudes to a range of health and medical treatments. Almost all Australians (94%) had confidence in prescription medicines and 77% of the community had confidence in “over the counter” medicines.
Allied therapies such as physiotherapy were well regarded with 83% of Australians either very confident (45%) or fairly confident (38%) in them. While less than half the community believed complementary medicines actually work, most people would be prepared to use them if they had more evidence about their efficacy.
The annual poll found that when it came to what industries Australians believe were important to the country’s future, health and medical research, alongside education, topped community support (89%). More than nine out of ten Australians (93%) believe new treatments to combat cancer should be a priority for health and medical research.
Stem cell research to treat diseases had considerable support (78%) but developing a vaccine against obesity had least support with 57% of the community supporting such research. The public opinion poll of 630 adults across Australia was conducted online by Crosby|Textor in August 2007 and generously funded by the MBF Foundation.
Full copies of the survey are available at http://www.researchaustralia.org.
