Half of Australia overweight: report
Almost half of Australia’s 20 million people are overweight and are fast creeping up to the obesity levels of the world’s fattest nation – the United States, according to a health report released today.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates as many as 3.3 million people aged 18 to 64 are obese, and another 5.6 million are overweight. This equates to some two-thirds of men and nearly half of all women, the report said.
“In terms of obesity and overweight we are now at the point where the US was in 1995,” said Institute medical adviser Paul Magnus. “We shouldn’t allow ourselves to go down the same path.”
The report warned that the expanding girths of Australians would place serious demands on the national health system, with more people likely to suffer diabetes, respiratory diseases, heart attacks, cancers and stroke.
