Behind the News Specials
The content in these specials will support students from Years 5 - 8 to achieve a range of understandings within an Essential Learnings curriculum. The stories emphasise investigation, communication and participation, encouraging students to be reflective thinkers about a range of issues taught in schools.
State / Territory Outcomes
Victoria
SA
WA
NT
Qld
NSW
Tasmania
ACT
Level 4 & 5
Standard 3 & 4
Level 3 & 4
Band 3 & 4
Level 3 & 4
Stage 3 & 4
Band B – Grade 5/6
Band C - Junior Secondary
Upper Prim
Lower High School
Staying Healthy
Curriculum Links
PDHPE: personal health choices
Health and Physical Education: health of individuals and communities
This week’s program focuses on making decisions relating to personal health.
There are four stories that each focus on one of the following subjects:
 Preventing and treating asthma
 Making healthy decisions to prevent obesity
 Food safety
 Preventing and treating diabetes
Your Society
Curriculum Link
Society and environment: societies and cultures

TRANSCRIPT
Staying Healthy
Hi and welcome to this Behind The News special about health, I'm Krista
Eleftheriou.
Firstly today … asthma. Chances are that you know someone who has asthma.
So you'd know a little about the disease and how it affects people.
Well, some Aussie scientists have come up with a new theory on why some people have it and others don't.
Sarah explains.
ASTHMA
Sarah Martinelli, reporter
Millie Bryden-Brown: "Having an attack it's scary and frightening because it feels like you're sort of suffocating, and you're trying to breathe in."
It's Australia's most widespread chronic health problem, and the major reason for missing school. One in every four Aussie kids has it. Even well-known sports stars have it; including swimming champ Grant Hackett, netballer Liz Ellis, and
Olympic hurdler Jana Pittman. It's expensive too. It costs roughly half a billion dollars a year to treat Australia's estimated 2 million asthma sufferers. And although it can be pretty well controlled with drugs like these, so far, there's no cure.
Inside, people with asthma have different looking airways. Their airways are permanently inflamed, and when they come in contact with a trigger factor these already swollen airways go into spasm, they start to narrow, and more mucous is produced. Breathing gets harder and harder, and they start to wheeze.
Most of the medical research involving asthma has been around the trigger factors, things that might cause an asthma attack, stuff like cigarette smoke, chemicals, mould, pollen, colds, animal hair, food additives, dust mites, even exercise!
Millie Bryden-Brown: "For me things it's usually colds and lots of sport and usually flowers."
Sarah Martinelli: "But recently, some Aussie scientists thought to look inside the lungs of people with asthma, and they found something very interesting."
Inside the lungs of an asthmatic, scientists noticed a much larger amount of
"smooth muscle" which builds up around the airway. These muscles contract

during an asthma attack. With a bit of testing, scientists found that the muscle cells from asthmatics grow twice as fast non-asthmatic muscle cells. The reason for that is that the muscle cells of asthmatics are missing an important protein that stops muscle cells growing. For some reason, that missing protein is not made and delivered to the lungs.
Scientists think the answer might be to somehow deliver that protein to the lungs, to prevent the buildup of the smooth muscle in the first place. How? One way might be to have a puffer, just like asthmatics use now, filled with the protein. At the moment it's still just an idea, but one day, it could mean a big change for asthmatics all over the world.
OBESE KIDS
Another health problem that is increasing among Australian kids is obesity.
New survey results show that Australian children aren't as healthy as they could be.
I've been looking at the big problem facing many young people today, and how they overcome it.
"Eat junk food, eat junk food."
Feel like you can't escape it? Like you just can't resist? You and I are not alone.
Too much junk food and a lack of exercise leads to obesity and being overweight is the second biggest health problem in Australia. It's almost as bad as smoking.
New research shows that up to 1 out of every five 15 year olds, is at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. That could cause things like liver, kidney and heart disease and blindness.
Tim MartellRose: “You wanna lose that weight, we gotta work harder every week, alright?"
"Yeah,"
Fourteen-year-old Tim is losing weight, but for him, exercise is the easy part. The real battle is with food.
Tim Martell-Rose: "I reckon I would have been smaller if I hadn't eaten, keep eating as much. If I hadn't kept eating all junk food."
Tim is not alone, Australian children are now among the heaviest in the world, but it wasn't always the case. So what's changed?
Well kids used to walk to school and take healthier packed lunches everyday.
Now, most students catch a ride and spend more time playing with technology

than playing a sport. And since I was at primary school, which wasn't all that long ago, there's been a soft drink explosion. Not that kind of explosion! There are a lot more soft drinks that contain heaps of sugar, which, if you don't do enough exercise, converts into fat. There are also more kinds of snacks and many more fast food outlets!
So, who is responsible for tackling the weight problem, The Government, school canteens, our parents, the junk food companies, or us?
Reporter: "Would you be buying those things if they weren't on TV, do you think?"
Tim MartellRose: “Nah. If they were on TV, then I'd go try it."
But some good things are being done to get kids healthy, like the government's
Active After-School sports Program. At this health clinic, kids are learning what are in the foods they eat so they know which ones to avoid.
Karen: "Can you see how much fat's in it? 29.7 so, that's an awful lot.
That's nearly 10 times as much as we really want in that food."
And many school canteens, like this one, are selling only healthy food. And the students are noticing the difference.
Anthony: "When I eat healthy food, it makes me feel all nice inside. I feel so energetic, I feel like I can do anything."
The rest, it seems, is up to you. Tim is losing weight by avoiding fatty foods and doing an exercise he likes. He's already feeling better.
Reporter: "And when you're 18, what do you want to look like?"
Tim Martell-
Rose: “I want to look like Hercules."
FOOD SAFETY
Krista Eleftherriou, reporter
Of course as well as watching WHAT we eat, we also need to watch HOW we eat.
I'm talking about the proper handling of food to make sure you don't get sick.
In fact 20% of all food poisoning happens in the home... and that's mostly due to incorrect food handling.

You can't see, taste or smell them. They are among the earliest forms of life that appeared on Earth billions of years ago. They live everywhere, soil, water and air, and from arctic ice to volcanoes.
You'll also find them here. They're on sponges, counters, chopping boards, utensils and food. I'm talking about bacteria!
How often have you unwrapped a ham sandwich at school, only to find it sort of warm? It tastes disgusting and it can actually be bad for you too. By not keeping it cool, the sandwich will have lots of bacteria multiplying, which can make you sick. By adding a frozen drink bottle, the whole lot will keep cold.
Which brings us to the fridge. In a country like Australia, we'd probably all get really sick if we didn't use refrigerators to store food. But exactly how cold is cold enough? Fridges need to be set at 5 degrees or less, to reduce the risk of getting sick. That's because bacteria grow faster at warmer temperatures. At 5 degrees, the bacteria aren't killed, but they do stop multiplying.
Take milk. The bacteria that naturally live in milk will cause the milk to go off in just two or three hours if it is left out of the fridge at room temperature. By putting the milk in the fridge, you don't get rid of the bacteria, but you slow the rate of reproduction down so the milk will stay fresh for a week or two.
Ever reached for a slice of yesterday's pizza? Well, unless it's been in the fridge, ditch it. In fact throw away any food that has been at room temperature for more than four hours.
And let's just say you offer to help cook dinner. By using the same chopping board to make the salad after chopping the raw chicken, cross contamination occurs. The whole family will end up eating loads of bacteria from the raw chicken.
Which brings us to washing hands, chances are you don't do it often enough, or for long enough. Experts say you're supposed to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with warm water and soap before and after handling meat.
Krista Eleftheriou, reporter: "By following a few rules you can make sure that you're not one of the 4 million Aussies who get sick every year from eating contaminated food. Because you know what happens then...um, hang on a minute... I'll be back."
DIABETES
Don't worry, Sarah didn't really make a mess....
Finally today to diabetes. Almost one million Australians have it.
But the problem is, many don't realise it.

So how does it affect the body and make you feel?
Victoria is 12 years old. She's just like any other kid, she likes soccer, trampolining, her pet rabbit and guinea pig, and playing drums. She also has type one diabetes.
Victoria: "I do 4 injections a day and each time I do an injection I do a blood test but at least you know it keeps me healthy and it is much better after a while."
There's been a lot of media coverage lately about type 2 diabetes. More and more Australians are getting it, but it can be prevented by eating right, and exercising. But with type 1 diabetes, there's nothing you can do to prevent it.
Sarah Martinelli, reporter: "Another name for type 1 diabetes is diabetes mellitus, now that actually means "sweet urine" and it comes from ancient times when doctors used to taste a patient's urine to test if they had diabetes! But don't worry this is just apple juice!"
Here's what is supposed to happen when you eat: glucose from the food gets into your bloodstream. Your pancreas makes a hormone called insulin. Insulin helps the glucose get into the body's cells, and your body gets the energy it needs.
But if someone has diabetes, the body either can't make insulin or the insulin doesn't work in the body like it should. The glucose can't get into the cells normally, so the blood sugar level gets too high. Lots of sugar in the blood makes people sick if they don't get treatment.
Solution: insulin injections. It's not a cure, but it does help the glucose get into the cells. Injections aren't the only hassle. Four times a day, Victoria has to check her blood sugar levels. If her levels are too high, she might have to have extra insulin. If her levels are too low, she might need to have more sugar, in food or a drink.
Victoria: "I feel shaky and all dizzy and sometimes everything goes a bit blurry but I do have jellybeans and sometimes soft drink just flat soft drink to overcome it."
The interesting thing about type 1 diabetes, is more and more kids are being diagnosed with it. No one is sure why. Currently there are more than 140 000 children and adults in Australia who have it. Everyone agrees a lot more research is needed before scientists can figure out what is going on!
And that's it for our Behind The News look at health.

I'm Krista Eleftheriou, see you next time.