The Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Programs Branch is responsible for developing and evaluating national policy, resources and initiatives in the areas of nutrition and healthy eating, health promoting physical activity and promoting healthy weight.
The Healthy Food Partnership will provide a mechanism for collective, voluntary action between government, the public health sector and the food industry to encourage healthier eating.
physically active and limiting your sedentary behaviour every day is essential for your health and wellbeing. Regular physical activity has many health benefits and plays an important role in promoting healthy weight. It can help prevent heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers, and also improve psychological wellbeing. Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines outline the minimum levels of physical activity required for health benefits and include ways to incorporate physical activity and minimise sedentary behaviour in everyday life.
Promoting healthy weight focuses on the prevention and management of overweight and obesity. In Australia, the 1995 National Nutrition Survey showed that some 56% of the adult population (18 years and over) were overweight, with 19% of these classified as obese.