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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    How common is obesity in Australia?

    Related Topics
    Obesity Weight Management
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    Arlene Normand

    Dietitian

    Arlene is a registered practising dietitian, with a private practice in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, and has built a strong business over the last … View Profile

    Australia is today ranked as one of the fattest nations in the developed world. The prevalence of obesity in Australia has more than doubled in the past 20 years.Here is a round up of Australian obesity facts & figures. Of great concern is the health consequence to Indigenous Australians, who are today twice as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to be obese and are ranked the fourth-highest population in the world that is likely to suffer from type-2 diabetes.Obesity in Australia

    • In Australia, more than 17 million Australians are overweight or obese.
    • More than four million Australians are obese (BMI > 30.0 kg/m2).
    • If weight gain continues at current levels, by 2020, 80% of all Australian adults and a third of all children will be overweight or obese.
    • Obesity has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of premature death and illness in Australia.
    • Obesity has become the single biggest threat to public health in Australia.
    • On the basis of present trends we can predict that by the time they reach the age of 20 our kids will have a shorter life expectancy than earlier generations simply because of obesity.
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are 1.9 times as likely as non-indigenous Australians to be obese.

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