Reducing Health Risk Factors: Vegetable Consumption

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) amongst the listed health risk factors is poor diet and nutrition which can lead to another health risk of obesity and being overweight. According to the research done by the ABS, only 5.6% of the Australian population met their recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables. Furthermore it was found that amongst adults (18 years old and over) that the recommended daily intake of fruit was consumed by 48.3% of the population were as the recommended daily intake of vegetables was met only by 8.3% of the population (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012 .)

As recognized by the Australian Department of Health and Aging, obesity has been linked with the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in women and men (National Health Priority Action Council , 2006) With the available evidence from the ASB there it could be said that obesity is on the rise amongst the Australian population especially amid children and adolescents, with an 80% increase of obesity in men and a 71% increase amongst women in a 13 year study started in 1989 and again in 2001 (ASB, 2012.)

It could be said that there seems to be a connotation of decreased chance of obesity (and hence lowered chance of diabetes type 2) and the increased consumption of plant foods. It is also recommended that people already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, consume a recommended amount of vegetables due the high fibre content of plant foods and its positive effect on blood sugar balance. “Therefore, to achieve healthier food consumption patterns, increased collaboration and commitment to promoting.”(Queensland Public Health Forum,2012.)

Giving Packaging a New Life AND How It’s Made: Packaging

The two sets of videos that were watched, presented the importance of packaging design and its environmental perspective. With estimation that 73-85 % of purchase decisions are made based on the products packaging[1], it could be said that as an industrial designer I have to try to be a social designer. That is, try and keep my designs both socially favourable yet also commercially attractive. From what I have observed about the videos, a product can be environmentally friendlier through the use of recycled materials yet attractive of the market shelves with the attractive use of labeling and smart packaging.

Ever since the start of my interest in the world of design, I have always been familiar with the concept of recycling (especially relevant to packaging) but I did not think that recycling has been this effective and that it is as developed as was shown in the videos. As an example I did not think that plastic water bottles could be recycled and reused as simply as shown in the videos. Before watching the videos I did not think that recycling would be as popular and sought after as shown.

Something that interested me while watching “Giving Packaging a New Life” was the fact that simple methods, such as the use of magnetic strips and the force of wind, are used to perform the recycling process which is I thought of as being very complex before watching the videos. Also, as explained by the first set of videos, the majority of the recycling process is about the sorting of the materials. Therefore, as an industrial designer, this makes me think about designing products with minimum variety of different materials used to encourage quick recycling and also reduce the costs of it. The use of simple yet efficient methods such as the use of different colours has become an encouraging factor for people, which again brings me to the thought of using simple yet smart tricks that make use of the products for the customer easier, to enhance my designs in the future.

The videos have enhanced the way I previously looked at recycling, and have highlighted the effective use of the recycled materials in the production of the product and their packaging, as well as briefing the several types of recycling process.

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[1] http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2010/8/3/social-packaging-design-building-strong-shelf-impact-and-bet.html

Viewed 10/03/13.