Australia The Fattest Nation On Earth
Posted on June 20, 2008 by DFHS Article Team
Move Over America, Now it’s Australia’s Turn to be the Worlds Fattest Nation…
I remember when I was in High School in the 70′s and everyone played sport – everyone seemed fit and healthy. No so today. Australia has become the fattest nation in the world, with more than 9 million adults now rated as obese or overweight, according to an alarming new report.
The most comprehensive study of the national obesity crisis to date has found that Australians now outweigh Americans and face a future deadly "Fat Bomb" that is set to trigger a whopping 123,000 premature deaths over the next two decades alone.
If action is not taken to avert this crises, obesity experts have warned, health costs in Australia could top $6 billion and an extra 700,000 people will be admitted to hospital for heart attacks, strokes and blood clots caused by excess weight.
The latest shocking statistics show a staggering 4 million Australians — or 26% of the adult population — are now obese compared to an estimated 25% of Americans. To make matters even worse a further 5 million Australians are considered medically overweight.
The report, Australia’s Future ‘Fat Bomb’, from Melbourne’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, will be presented at the Federal Government’s inquiry into obesity, which comes to Melbourne today.
Those most at risk of premature death are the middle-aged, with 70% of men and 60% of women aged 45 to 64 now classed as obese.
But some weight specialists have questioned the tool used to measure obesity, saying "entire rugby teams" would be classified as obese if their body mass index (BMI) was calculated.
BMI is measured by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared. A BMI of over 25 is considered overweight while more than 30 is obese.
But the tool does not distinguish between muscle and fat, prompting calls for the BMI overweight limit to be raised to 28.
Leading nutritionist Jenny O’Dea from the University of Sydney – who recently claimed Australia’s childhood obesity epidemic had been exaggerated – has backed the new figures, which suggest that the crisis for adults has been "drastically" underestimated.
Professor O’Dea said that while being fat was not necessarily a health risk for everyone, there was no doubt obesity was taking its toll on the nation.
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Article Source: The Age
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