Australia vies to be Fattest!

[ethics]

And wins! (For now) (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSYD29560820080620)


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 (http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics) 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.
I've always thought that Aussies were a bit more "outdoorsie" than most nations out there. What happened?

[John R. Beanham]

ethics,

"I've always thought that Aussies were a bit more "outdoorsie" than most nations out there. What happened?"



Over the past decade or so we have certainly become fatter, some of the obese people you see in shopping centres are disgusting.
BUT, every time a talking head wants attention for his hobby horse 'survey', 'clinical study', 'test', or even the old classic 'anecdotal evidence' proclaims that "Australia is the worst in the world".
These claims are usually worded such as "obese or overweight" as I remember this one, and that means a person 5 Kgs overweight is counted.

These claims are usually followed with a demand for vastly increased government (taxpayer) funding, followed by the prediction that the situation will be critical and desperate by the middle of next week if it is not forthcoming.


((Kilojules IN, minus kilojules OUT, = kilograms ON!))


John.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[ethics]

Obese: 30 kg over the weight class. That's 66lbs and that's quite a number.

[Stiofán]

We generally come from the same northern European stock (the majority) so our food industry, which has rooted itself into many countries, will make them fat like it has us.

That's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it. ;)

[John R. Beanham]

Another recent 'study' informed us that obesity was "genetic".

Given that we have been carrying around our genes for quite a while now, I wondered why this was a problem of the past 25 years or so.

John

[Stiofán]

Because the foods we eat are now all processed with additives like HFCS which our feast or famine bodies can't handle.

[Steve]

I want to know where all the skinny people in the U.S. are hiding, that are holding the average down to "only" 25%. Around here, you see almost nothing but obese people.

[Stiofán]

California was pretty in shape for such a large population. Idaho is fatsville.

[ethics]

Florida is old AND far. Don't forget the fatty wagons.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathan.eropkin/DisneylandFattyWagons

[Coot]

California was pretty in shape for such a large population. Idaho is fatsville.
Heh, no shit. I thought this might be a local phenomena, as I see some healthy females when I go to Boise, but 'round here? It looks like their mama's and daddy's made 'em when the price of hamburger was real cheap. ;)

[Stiofán]

I guess it's tough being a svelte farmers wife with no chickens to feed and hand laundry to do.

[ditch]

"It is the postcard image of Australia and perhaps one of the country's most enduring self-deceptions - a young, fit, bronzed surfer soaking up the sun. The crushing reality, however, is that the average Australian male is more likely to be a flabby couch potato, with two out of three Australian men now considered to be overweight or obese."


www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/18/bernardoriordan

And,
AUSTRALIANS are fatter, drunker and have more sexually transmitted diseases than ever before, but access to doctors is falling, according to a major health report.


www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23914126-921,00

These studies revealing the terrible truth are forever getting published. Who knows how accurate their findings are. The methodology is never revealed and you'll never find out the details unless you want to do some detective work.

The "getting fatter" stories are true to an extent but can't be applied universally. Obesity and smoking rates are certainly higher in some socio-economic groups for example.


There are also a lot more people exercising and conscious of the effects of a bad diet and being overweight. We can't be doing everything wrong if our longevity is second only to the Japanese. Can't find the link to that story but that finding was published around the same time as the fat story.