Australia as fattest nation 'staggering'
Australia as fattest nation 'staggering' - June 20th, Australian Newspaper
June 20, 2008 - 1:34PM
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Statistics listing Australia as the fattest nation in the world are "staggering", Health Minister Nicola Roxon says.
The latest comprehensive study of obesity, shows that 26 per cent of adult Australians - almost four million - are now obese, an increase of one million since the last calculation in 1999.
Ms Roxon said the report, Australia's Future Fat Bomb, would come as a shock to the community and highlighted the need for urgent action.
"These are obviously pretty staggering statistics, to show that we are the fattest, or one of the fattest countries in the world," Ms Roxon told reporters in Canberra.
"I think it will be a shock to a lot of people that we are rated as a fatter nation, for example, than America.
"This is really a wake-up call to the whole community that more does need to be done in this area."
Obesity was a national priority and the government hoped to have an effective nation-wide strategy implemented in the next 12 months, Ms Roxon said.
A government-initiated inquiry into obesity would consider a range of measures, including gym membership rebates, Ms Roxon said.
"We expect to have a full comprehensive strategy in place by the middle of next year ... obviously this (report) increases the urgency for that work to be undertaken."
The report presents the results of height and weight checks carried out on 14,000 adult Australians nationwide in 2005.
Professor Simon Stewart from Melbourne's Baker Heart Institute will present the report's findings in Melbourne on Friday.
An opposition senator says the Rudd government needs to implement a national obesity strategy before next year.
Ms Roxon has said a plan would be in place by the middle of next year.
Tasmanian Liberal senator Guy Barnett says the commitment is not good enough.
"It's not good enough for the government to have a strategy prepared by this time next year," he told reporters in Canberra.
"By this time next year the statistics will be worse, not better.
"We can't wait another year for a strategy and I would call on Ms Roxon to move faster."
Senator Barnett, who has conducted eight forums on childhood obesity, is urging the government to immediately adopt 10 recommendations set out in a 2006 government report on obesity.
The recommendations included a Medicare rebate for obesity consultations, a nutritional food labelling program and an overhaul of school canteen menus.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has described new statistics about obese Australians as staggering and alarming and has asked for urgent advice on how to combat the problem.
"I think it will be a shock to a lot of people that we are rated as a fatter nation than America," she said.
The Baker Heart Institute's report, Australia's Future 'Fat Bomb', found Australia may soon overtake America as the fattest nation on earth, with one in four adults classed as obese.
Report author Professor Simon Stewart has today told the Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into Obesity the cost of high levels of obesity is going to be profound.
"We can only give you a conservative estimate of $6 billion in costs but it's likely to be more than $15 billion," he said.
"The fat bomb's about to go off, we need to do something about it."
Professor Stewart believes communities could be encouraged and rewarded to lose weight collectively but he is not a fan of fad diets.
"My simple solution is that we eat healthier, we eat less and we exercise more," he said.
Ms Roxon says she wants advice from the prevention taskforce on the best long-term plan for tackling rising obesity rates and hopes to have a strategy in place by mid-next year.
The priority of the Government's strategies will be to target children and parents first to encourage healthy eating habits, exercise and to make sure healthy food is affordable.
The Government will also release a 'healthy habits for life' guide in the coming weeks.
However, Ms Roxon has stopped short of identifying any immediate action on the issue, saying the Government wants to look at a range of ideas and suggestions, combined with research.
"We need to make sure if we're going to back initiatives to change behaviour that we know what ones work," she said.
She also denied the Government had been slow to act, saying it had already identified obesity as one of the three biggest risk factors contributing to chronic disease.
"We've taken steps to make obesity a national health priority. We're investing in community level initiatives," she said.
Liberal Senator Guy Barnett has long campaigned for governments to do more to address the problem.
Mr Barnett says the figures show the time for action is now.
"I'm calling on the Government to implement a Medicare rebate for obesity consultations," he said.
"Secondly, to establish a healthy lifestyle commission reportable directly to the Prime Minister, and thirdly, we need to clean up our canteens right across the country."
The study, which will be presented to the House of Representatives Committee investigating obesity, says it is a major contributor to some of the worst health problems in the country.
It also identifies middle-aged Australians as an area of concern, with around seven out of 10 men and six out of 10 women aged between 45 and 64 as being overweight or obese.
The report says more than 100,000 people will die from cardiovascular disease over the next 20 years as a result of being overweight.
