Preventing childhood obesity: the sentinel site for obesity prevention in Victoria, Australia.

In spite of greater awareness of the need for action to reduce obesity, the evidence on sustainable community approaches to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity is surprisingly sparse. This paper describes the design and methodological components of the Sentinel Site for Obesity Prevention, a demonstration site in the Barwon-South West region of Victoria, Australia, that aims to build the programs, skills and evidence necessary to attenuate and eventually reverse the obesity epidemic in children and adolescents. The Sentinel Site for Obesity Prevention is based on a partnership between the region's university (Deakin University) and its health, education and local government agencies.

High childhood obesity in an Australian population.

Objective: The objective was to determine the prevalences of overweight and obesity in regional Australian children and to examine the association between BMI and indicators of socioeconomic status (SES).

Research Methods And Procedures: Regionally representative cross-sectional survey of 2184 children, 4 to 12 years of age, was conducted, and the socio-demographic characteristics of their parents from regional Victoria, Australia, 2003 to 2004, were obtained.

Results: The prevalences of overweight and obesity were 19.

Association of key foods and beverages with obesity in Australian schoolchildren.

Objective: To examine the pattern of intake of key foods and beverages of children aged 4-12 years and the association with weight status.

Design And Setting: A computer-assisted telephone interview was used to determine the intake of fruit, vegetables, packaged snacks, fast foods and sweetened drinks 'yesterday' and 'usually' as reported by parents/guardians of a representative sample of 2184 children from the Barwon South-Western region of Victoria, Australia.

Results: Children who consumed >2-3, >3-4 and >4 servings of fruit juice/drinks 'yesterday' were, respectively, 1.