The challenge
Reducing obesity and chronic disease in Australia
Overweight and obesity is a significant contributor to the impact of chronic disease in Australia. Approximately 63 per cent of the Australian population is overweight or obese.
Recent estimates for Australia suggest that poor diet costs Australia around $5 billion each year ($6.2 billion in today's terms), with around two thirds due to direct health-care costs. Other studies including overweight and obesity (for which poor nutrition can be a causal factor) find that this costs an additional $11.6 billion per year or $12.5 billion in today's terms.
Our response
The Total Wellbeing Diet
The Total Wellbeing Diet (TWD) Online was launched in 2015 by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and SP Health. The TWD Online platform was developed as a result of the research around weight loss conducted within the CSIRO's Health and Nutrition Program since 1999, which provided the scientific substantiation that a high protein, lower carbohydrate diet is safe and effective in diabetes and weight loss management. The Total Wellbeing Diet also aimed to improve the nutrition status of Australians.
The results
Improved health outcomes
Improved health outcomes will impact on the economy by improving labour productivity. The TWD Online platform does this directly by contributing positively to health outcomes across a range of chronic diseases.
The CSIRO and SP Health's investment in the Total Wellbeing Diet Online has provided a stream of benefits that exceed costs by approximately 2.5:1, with a net present value of $68.6 million, using a three per cent discount rate.