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Australia vies to be fattest country Australia is on track to become the fattest nation, although experts questioned on Friday whether it had overtaken the United States and small Pacific countries for the unenviable title. Around 4 million Australian adults, or 26 percent of the population, were obese, eclipsing the 25 percent rate in the United States, a study by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute released in Melbourne said. "If we ran a fat Olympics we'd be gold medal winners as the fattest people on earth at the moment," Institute preventative cardiology head Professor Simon Stewart told the Age newspaper. The report, Australia's Future Fat Bomb, to be presented to a government inquiry into the nation's obesity problem on Friday, said 70 percent of men and 60 percent of women aged 45 to 65 were technically overweight or obese. In total, 9 million people were too heavy -- almost half the 21 million population -- and 123,000 were at risk of early death over the next 20 years, the study said. While the report said Australia had overtaken the United States as the fattest nation on the planet, recent U.S. studies show around 34 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. And small Pacific nations top World Health Organization lists, with 94.5 percent of people in tiny Nauru classed as overweight, leading to chronic diabetes problems on the island. The Federated States of Micronesia (91.1 percent), the Cook Islands (90.9 percent), Tonga (90.8 percent) and Niue (81.7 percent) rounded out the WHO top five, while the United States came in at number nine, with 74.1 percent overweight or obese. Australia came in at only 21, behind countries such as New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, Greece and Kuwait, according to WHO. In all, there are currently 1.6 billion overweight adults in the world, a number that is expected to grow by 40 percent over the next decade, according to the World Health Organization. Nutrition expert Rosemary Stanton said while Australia may not lead the world, it did need to take urgent action to address growing obesity and re-think failed health messages. "We've got to somehow or other get a message across. We've got to start taking this very seriously, rather than just talking about it," Stanton said, pointing the finger at "huge resistance" in the processed and fast food industries. Dr. Cinque's comments: I did a clinical sabbatical in Australia for 6 months in 1989, and even then, I was startled at the number of obese people I saw, including a lot of morbidly obese people. It's ironic because Australia is a wonderful place for healthy eating. Because of its size and location and favorable climate, Australia produces a huge surplus of food- all kinds of food, including all kinds of fresh produce. And, I think the quality of the Australian produce is better than the average quality here in the USA. All of the fruits and vegetables that I ate there were very delicious and first-rate. To me, it was like paradise. However, the standard Australian dietary norms go in a very different direction. Australians are big meat-eaters; they eat more meat than just about anybody, and they are particularly fond of lamb. When I was there, I heard a lot about "steak and pumpkin" which refers to beefsteak eaten with what we call butternut squash. The official national dish of Australia is minced meat pie, followed by Australian sausage roll. Australians are also fond of rich desserts, two of which are known as lamington and pavlova. Food is quite cheap in Australia, and perhaps that lends towards obesity as well. Fast food joints are very abundant and popular there, including the well-known American brands. And health consciousness is low in Australia compared to here- at least it was when I was there. E-mail to a friend Previous Article |
