New campaign launched as LiveLighter marks 10 year anniversary

09/09/2022

Media contact: Jane Simpson, 0438 682 548, jane.simpson@cancerwa.asn.au

Cancer Council WA have used the 10 year anniversary of LiveLighter, a healthy lifestyle program delivered in partnership with WA Health, to launch a ground-breaking new public education campaign that aims to encourage and motivate West Australians to reduce their consumption of junk food, including sugary drinks and sweet snacks.

Cancer Council WA Cancer Prevention and Research Director, Melissa Ledger, said using state of the art CGI footage to inform the WA community of the link between junk food and cancer was an exciting new development for the new Reverse campaign, while providing practical solutions to reduce junk food consumption.

“Obesity continues to be a major health concern in WA with more than 70 per cent [1] of our adult population either overweight or obese, and an estimated 8.1 per cent of all deaths in WA in 2015 attributable to excess body mass [2], ” Ms Ledger said.

“However, many people are still not aware that excess body fat (especially fat around the waist and vital organs) can increase the release of harmful chemicals and hormones into the body and promote inflammation. This environment makes it more likely that cells will start to divide abnormally, and that a cancer will grow.

“High body weight is a risk factor for 13 cancers, including cancer of the oesophagus, stomach, bowel and breast (after menopause).”

Ms Ledger said that 10 years on from the first LiveLighter campaign it is still vitally important that public education campaigns, such as the new campaign Reverse, continue to keep health and wellbeing top of mind for the community and policy makers.

“LiveLighter was established in 2012 with the goal of helping people to eat well, be physically active and avoid excess weight gain,” she said.

“We know the LiveLighter message is getting through, as a recent study found, on average, people consume 1.7 less serves of junk food each week that the campaign is on air.

“This equates to over 1.6 million less serves of unhealthy food and drink consumed by West Australians aged 25-49 each week that the campaign runs.

“This success is not possible without WA Health’s long-term commitment to deliver LiveLighter, but there’s still a long way to go.

“We know the campaign changes the way our community thinks about junk food. To accelerate this success, we need urgent government action that can create healthier more liveable communities, starting with the removal of junk food advertising from government owned property.”

The Reverse campaign will run State-wide across all major media platforms, including TV, radio and digital.

Click to view assets

LiveLighter 10 year anniversary and launch of Reverse

Date: 9 September 2022

Time: 9am-10am

Location: Ellis room, Bendat Basketball Centre, 201 Underwood Avenue, Floreat

Available Interviews:

• Melissa Ledger, Director Cancer Prevention & Research, Cancer Council WA
• Dr Ruth Shean, President of Cancer Council WA

To the editor: No “headless bodies” please

Having overweight or obesity comes with a lot of health issues. Some of these are related to the stigma that is attached to living in a larger body. We urge you to use images that are respectful, inclusive and non-stigmatising when reporting on issues related to body weight. For example, show people in larger bodies participating in everyday activities that are not related to weight gain, and use images that include their faces. We are happy to provide you with suitable images if required. Thank you for helping to set a higher standard for reporting on weight issues.

Note: Not everyone living in a larger body is unhealthy, and not everyone living in a smaller body is healthy. Eating well and being physically active are behaviours that will reduce cancer risk, regardless of a person’s weight

Background

• LiveLighter is funded by the WA Department of Health and delivered by Cancer Council WA.
• More information is available via the website about how to make small lifestyle changes to improve health.
• Eating well and being more active are behaviours that reduce the risk of certain cancers, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, regardless of a person’s body weight. These actions can also help people avoid weight gain or lose weight to reduce cancer risk.
• It is estimated that in Australia in 2010, almost 4,000 cancers cases were attributable to overweight and obesity [3].
• In Western Australia in 2015, 7.8% of the total cancer burden was attributable to overweight and obesity, the second leading preventable risk factor for cancer behind tobacco use [4].
• The number of cancer cases attributable to overweight and obesity is likely to grow over time as
  rates continue to increase [5].

References

[1] Epidemiology Directorate, 2021. Health and Wellbeing of Adults in Western Australia 2020, Overview and Trends. Department of Health, Western Australia.

[2] Beswick AZ, Ambrosini GL, Radomiljac A, Tomlin S, Chapman AM, Maticevic J, Winstanley M, Kirkland L. The burden and cost of excess body mass in Western Australian adults and children. Perth, Western Australian Department of Health; 2020

[3] Whiteman, 2015

[4] Department of Health WA, 2020

[5] Pearson-Stuttard, 2018