Obesity in Australia
Encyclopedia
Obesity in Australia has been described as an "epidemic" with "increasing frequency." The Medical Journal of Australia
found that obesity
in Australia more than doubled in the two decades preceding 2003, and the unprecedented rise in obesity has been compared to the same health crisis in America
.
Ehrenberg and Catalano (2006) state that obesity is now more common than infectious diseases and under nutrition. Obesity is more common than what immediately comes to mind and the effects of obesity can be seen both in the short and long term health problems associated with this health issue.
Obesity along with other such diseases carry short and long term effects. Albertini et al. (2007, p. 4) outline that with obesity you can receive effects “including cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension, various types of tumors and diabetes, which represent the main causes of death.” Without correct treatment some complementary diseases may worsen and become long term effects of obesity.
(WHO) found that 67.4% of Australian adults are overweight, ranking 21st in the world, and third out of the major countries in the Anglosphere
, behind the United States
(ranked 9th) and New Zealand
(ranked 17th). A 2005 WHO study found that just over 20% of Australian adults are obese, which is expected to rise to roughly 29% in 2010 if current trends continue.
In the 2005 National Health Survey, 53.6% of Australians reported being overweight (above a 25 BMI
), with 18% falling into the "obese" category (above a 30 BMI). This is nearly double the reported number from 1995, when 30% of adults were overweight and 11% were obese. Such representations would be skewed downward as people tend to overestimate their height and under-report their weight, the two key criteria to determine a BMI reading. In the National Health Survey, obesity reports were fairly common across the board, with no major outliers. Victoria
had the lowest incidence of obesity, at 17.0% of the population, with South Australia
reporting the highest numbers at 19.6%.
showed that Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Middle Eastern immigrants who moved to Australia were diagnosed with diabetes at a higher level than the average. The increase was explained by the adoption of a Western diet in place of a more healthy "traditional" diet more common in the various native countries, as well as adopting a more sedentary lifestyle which is ubiquitous in developed countries.
Indigenous populations are the most affected by obesity in Australia, with a 2001 study showing that 31% of Aborigines
and Torres Strait Islanders
were obese, nearly double the national average at that time. A University of Alberta
study, conducted in 2006, noted that 60% of Aborigines over the age of 35 in Western Australia tested positive for diabetes, and health issues such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes have lowered the life expectancy for Aborigines to 17 years below the national life expectancy, a gap that continues to grow.
Professor Paul Zimmet at Monash University, who conducted the aforementioned study of diabetes rates among Asian immigrants, released figures at the Diabetes in Indigenous People Forum in Melbourne, estimating the rate of diabetes from poor diet at 24% of all Torres Strait Islanders, and remarked that unless extra steps are taken with these groups, the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders will die out within 100 years.
Increased media attention on childhood obesity, in 2007 and 2008 especially, caused many researchers to print findings that the rate of obesity for children has reached a plateau or that the claims are simply "exaggerated." The reports caused Dr. Rosanna Capolingua
, President of the Australian Medical Association
, to issue a statement admonishing people and media outlets for "trivialising" the issue.
, the national body for diabetes awareness and prevention, told the House of Representatives
that the cost of obesity on the country's health system in 2005 was an estimated A$
25 billion (US$20 billion), and that figure was only expected to rise. In August 2008, Diabetes Australia's estimation more than doubled to $58 billion ($46 billion USD), this time taking into account not just health care but job productivity and other related quality of living costs.
In 2003, the number of Australians with type 2 diabetes rose to nearly a million for the first time. In addition, the number of type 2 diabetes patients who were diagnosed solely on their weight was calculated at 242,000 in 2007, a 137% increase in cases in the previous three years.
added obesity to its list of "national health priorities," officially elevating it to the same standard of attention given to other deadly ailments such as cancer
, heart disease
and diabetes. On 1 June 2009, the first Parliamentary comment on obesity in Australia was published, with the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing recommending 20 acts for the Federal Government to consider, including tax incentives to make healthier fruits and vegetables more affordable for Australians, and pressing the government to work with the food industry to lower fat and sugar levels in existing processed food.
The current ALP
government under Prime Minister Julia Gillard
wants to tackle the obesity problem in Australia by giving tax subsidies which would fund gym memberships to people who wish to lose weight. Her watchdog group, the National Preventative Health Taskforce, also wants to target childhood obesity by banning ads for junk food during the daytime when most children's television programs air.
In August 2008, the government of New South Wales
announced that it would pay for morbidly obese patients to receive weight loss surgery, the first state to make such an announcement. Most Australians who wish to have such surgery have to go to a private hospital and pay for the procedure themselves, which costs $10,000 ($10,000 USD). A survey in Western Australia
suggests that the number of patients who have undergone weight loss surgery has increased 20-fold in the past 20 years, with nine out of ten patients opting for the lap band procedure.
The Medical Journal of Australia
The Medical Journal of Australia is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the official journal of the Australian Medical Association, published by the Australasian Medical Publishing Company. The editor-in-chief is Annette G. Katelaris....
found that obesity
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
in Australia more than doubled in the two decades preceding 2003, and the unprecedented rise in obesity has been compared to the same health crisis in America
Obesity in the United States
Obesity in the United States has been increasingly cited as a major health issue in recent decades. While many industrialized countries have experienced similar increases, obesity rates in the United States are among the highest in the world with 74.6% of Americans being overweight or obese...
.
Ehrenberg and Catalano (2006) state that obesity is now more common than infectious diseases and under nutrition. Obesity is more common than what immediately comes to mind and the effects of obesity can be seen both in the short and long term health problems associated with this health issue.
Obesity along with other such diseases carry short and long term effects. Albertini et al. (2007, p. 4) outline that with obesity you can receive effects “including cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension, various types of tumors and diabetes, which represent the main causes of death.” Without correct treatment some complementary diseases may worsen and become long term effects of obesity.
Australian adults
In 2007, the World Health OrganizationWorld Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO) found that 67.4% of Australian adults are overweight, ranking 21st in the world, and third out of the major countries in the Anglosphere
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
, behind the United States
Obesity in the United States
Obesity in the United States has been increasingly cited as a major health issue in recent decades. While many industrialized countries have experienced similar increases, obesity rates in the United States are among the highest in the world with 74.6% of Americans being overweight or obese...
(ranked 9th) and New Zealand
Obesity in New Zealand
Obesity in New Zealand has become an important national health concern in recent years, with high numbers of people afflicted in every age and ethnic group...
(ranked 17th). A 2005 WHO study found that just over 20% of Australian adults are obese, which is expected to rise to roughly 29% in 2010 if current trends continue.
In the 2005 National Health Survey, 53.6% of Australians reported being overweight (above a 25 BMI
Body mass index
The body mass index , or Quetelet index, is a heuristic proxy for human body fat based on an individual's weight and height. BMI does not actually measure the percentage of body fat. It was invented between 1830 and 1850 by the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet during the course of developing...
), with 18% falling into the "obese" category (above a 30 BMI). This is nearly double the reported number from 1995, when 30% of adults were overweight and 11% were obese. Such representations would be skewed downward as people tend to overestimate their height and under-report their weight, the two key criteria to determine a BMI reading. In the National Health Survey, obesity reports were fairly common across the board, with no major outliers. Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
had the lowest incidence of obesity, at 17.0% of the population, with South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
reporting the highest numbers at 19.6%.
Immigrant and indigenous populations
First-generation immigrants to Australia have handled the rise in obesity and its related factors worse than white Australians or Australians of foreign ancestry whose families have been in the country at least two generations. A study conducted by the International Diabetes Institute at Monash UniversityMonash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
showed that Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Middle Eastern immigrants who moved to Australia were diagnosed with diabetes at a higher level than the average. The increase was explained by the adoption of a Western diet in place of a more healthy "traditional" diet more common in the various native countries, as well as adopting a more sedentary lifestyle which is ubiquitous in developed countries.
Indigenous populations are the most affected by obesity in Australia, with a 2001 study showing that 31% of Aborigines
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
and Torres Strait Islanders
Torres Strait Islanders
Torres Strait Islanders are the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, part of Queensland, Australia. They are culturally and genetically linked to Melanesian peoples and those of Papua New Guinea....
were obese, nearly double the national average at that time. A University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
study, conducted in 2006, noted that 60% of Aborigines over the age of 35 in Western Australia tested positive for diabetes, and health issues such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes have lowered the life expectancy for Aborigines to 17 years below the national life expectancy, a gap that continues to grow.
Professor Paul Zimmet at Monash University, who conducted the aforementioned study of diabetes rates among Asian immigrants, released figures at the Diabetes in Indigenous People Forum in Melbourne, estimating the rate of diabetes from poor diet at 24% of all Torres Strait Islanders, and remarked that unless extra steps are taken with these groups, the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders will die out within 100 years.
Australian children
The percentage of overweight and obese children in Australia, despite heavy increases in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, have remained mostly steady for the past 10 years, with 23 to 24% of Australians under the age of 18 classified as overweight, and 5 to 6% of the same demographic classified as obese.Increased media attention on childhood obesity, in 2007 and 2008 especially, caused many researchers to print findings that the rate of obesity for children has reached a plateau or that the claims are simply "exaggerated." The reports caused Dr. Rosanna Capolingua
Rosanna Capolingua
Dr. Rosanna Capolingua, MBBS, is a former federal president of the Australian Medical Association . She served as president from 2007 to 2009.-Background:...
, President of the Australian Medical Association
Australian Medical Association
The Australian Medical Association is a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students.The AMA uses a representative structure involving state branches and committees to work with members to promote and protect the interests of doctors.The mechanisms that allow this include:*...
, to issue a statement admonishing people and media outlets for "trivialising" the issue.
Diabetes and cost of obesity
In May 2008, Diabetes AustraliaDiabetes Australia
Diabetes Australia is the third oldest diabetes association in the world, after the United Kingdom and Portugal. Originally established in the state of New South Wales in 1937, the organisation's head office is now in the nation's capital, Canberra...
, the national body for diabetes awareness and prevention, told the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
that the cost of obesity on the country's health system in 2005 was an estimated A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
25 billion (US$20 billion), and that figure was only expected to rise. In August 2008, Diabetes Australia's estimation more than doubled to $58 billion ($46 billion USD), this time taking into account not just health care but job productivity and other related quality of living costs.
In 2003, the number of Australians with type 2 diabetes rose to nearly a million for the first time. In addition, the number of type 2 diabetes patients who were diagnosed solely on their weight was calculated at 242,000 in 2007, a 137% increase in cases in the previous three years.
Government response
In April 2008, the Australian Federal GovernmentGovernment of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
added obesity to its list of "national health priorities," officially elevating it to the same standard of attention given to other deadly ailments such as cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
and diabetes. On 1 June 2009, the first Parliamentary comment on obesity in Australia was published, with the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing recommending 20 acts for the Federal Government to consider, including tax incentives to make healthier fruits and vegetables more affordable for Australians, and pressing the government to work with the food industry to lower fat and sugar levels in existing processed food.
The current ALP
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government under Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
wants to tackle the obesity problem in Australia by giving tax subsidies which would fund gym memberships to people who wish to lose weight. Her watchdog group, the National Preventative Health Taskforce, also wants to target childhood obesity by banning ads for junk food during the daytime when most children's television programs air.
In August 2008, the government of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
announced that it would pay for morbidly obese patients to receive weight loss surgery, the first state to make such an announcement. Most Australians who wish to have such surgery have to go to a private hospital and pay for the procedure themselves, which costs $10,000 ($10,000 USD). A survey in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
suggests that the number of patients who have undergone weight loss surgery has increased 20-fold in the past 20 years, with nine out of ten patients opting for the lap band procedure.