OK. I have to ask about this one: "you can’t buy any food at the supermarket or tobacconist without junk food being at their eye-level."

Who buys food at the tobacconist? What food is sold at the tobacconist? If you're buying food in the tobacconist, surely allowing your children to see junk food isn't at the top of your list of problems?

That aside, there is some merit to the argument that education lies at the core of this problem. I went to uni with a woman who, in her frequent soapboxing about the cost of living, claimed that she fed her children McDonald's every night because she couldn't afford anything else. I was a bit stunned - at times when I've been down and out, I've managed quite easily to feed myself with fruit, veg and a little meat for substantially less than the cost of a Happy Meal. She was obviously clever enough to talk her way into university, and obviously driven enough to study in the hope of giving her kids a better life.

What was missing, then, was an understanding of nutrition and, perhaps, of budgeting. It seems that, in schools, the new Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education is moving away from explicit teaching of nutrition, which was (to the best of my knowledge) embedded in many state curricula. A missed opportunity? We can't force people to eat well, but education can surely help them to make informed choices about whether or not they do.

Obesity truly threatens people's health, they are at a risk of heart disease, diabetes, chronic disease, and others. Great lifestyle and regular exercise, "Make Healthy Normal"may be a good choice.
Steven from Creative Bioarray (http://www.creative-bioarray.com/).