Interesting article

onyxeyes · 06-22-2008, 03:14 AM

I just stumbled upon this article, I don't know if it's true or not, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Australian Bellies Bulge Past America's - Forbes.com

Quote:

HONG KONG -

The astonishing speed with which Australians are adding weight has enabled the country to clam an unsavory title: fattest country among the world's major economies.

Quietly but surely, more than a quarter of the Australian adult population, 26% of its 15.1 million, has become obese, compared with 25% in the United States, according to a comprehensive survey, titled "Australia’s Future Fat Bomb," released Friday by the Melbourne-based Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute. That would put Australia, a nation associated in the popular imagination with sports and outdoor activity, ahead of America as the world's fattest major country.

The percentage translates into almost 4 million people. Add another 5.4 million Australians who are overweight, and nearly 62% of the Australian adult population is above the threshold of a desirable weight range, a staggering figure.

"If there was a fat Olympics, we would be the gold medal nation," Simon Stewart, head of preventative cardiology at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, was quoted by The Age as saying. "Every American I have met visiting Australia in the last couple of months says, 'Gee, you've overtaken us. You have more fat Australians than we have fat Americans,' and they are right."

Only last year, Australia was well behind the United States in the world index of fattest countries.

The latest results show Australia adding 1 million obese adults since the last such comprehensive survey was done, in 1999. The middle-aged cohort, between 45 and 64, is at particularly high risk. Seven out of 10 men, and six out of 10 women, in this age range are either overweight or obese. The institute estimated that the expansion of middle-aged waistlines will result in an extra 700,000 hospital admissions owing to cardiovascular-related diseases, for a total additional health care cost of 6 billion Australian dollars ($5.71 billion).

The survey identifies adult males, children, indigenous Australians and those lower on the socioeconomic scale, particularly those from rural and regional areas of Australia, as most at risk. These various groups commonly tend to indulge in overconsumption of food while engaging in less physical activity.

Miss Loo · 06-22-2008, 03:19 AM

Woah =/

miss-morphine · 06-22-2008, 03:24 AM

Wow,that's interesting!

I had no idea about that.

LITTLEMISSPIPEDREAM · 06-22-2008, 12:48 PM

But I never see fat people.

Capt Sasha · 06-22-2008, 08:40 PM

Well at least the Australians have shown that they are united with US not only in political, cultural and military ideologies, but in health and food habits too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LITTLEMISSPIPEDREAM

But I never see fat people.

Well its, symptomatic. Americans for example, never notice fat people or stupid people in US, unless they visit Europe. You can't really compare when you have seen only one sample.

miss-morphine · 06-22-2008, 09:16 PM

I'm sure England can't be that far behind.
The amount of fatties I see everywhere is ridiculous. Even little kids now.
That's just not nice. :\

asoiafdude · 06-23-2008, 10:49 AM

I think weight is a problem in a lot societies, merely because of the way the human body is made. One of the biggest goals of the human body, if not the biggest, is to fight starvation. If you starve you cannot live long enough to breed, and thus fighting starvation is very important. And the fatter you are, the farther you are from starvation in your body's eye.

One thing I have also noticed is that many people who talk about weight problems do not have them themselves. Some people get to eat and eat and sit around and not exercise and do not gain any weight. In contrast, people like me struggle with our weight and have to enact a much higher level of self-restraint then our skinny counter-parts. It's not at all easy in any way, and it makes me angry when skinny people talk about it like it's nothing.

miss-morphine · 06-24-2008, 02:51 AM

I know it's easier for some people to put on weight than others, but I don't believe some people could just sit around on thier arse all day, eat and eat, and not put on weight.
They would get fat just like anyone else.
It's wether you allow yourself to do that.
People just find excuses to blame it on and I'm so fed up of it.

S1919 · 06-24-2008, 03:01 AM

Actually miss morphine they can :/ im afraid I used to be one of those people. I was lacking muscle too and took in around 300 more calories than the RDA, sitting around playing computer games but still only weighed in at 10 stone for 6'1.

I did eventually change that, and went to the gym. Now I weigh 12.5 stone, but I actually eat more than I did before.

miss-morphine · 06-24-2008, 03:07 AM

If you'd done that for a long enough time you would have got fat.

And in the same way, but opposite, if someone who apparently puts on weight easily did that only for a little while they wouldn't put on so much that they couldn't take it off.

S1919 · 06-24-2008, 03:30 AM

Oh i'd done that for a good 4 years or so. Perhaps when my 'metabolism slows down' I will put on some weight.

But yeah I do agree with you. My own mother aparently gets fat easily, but manages to keep it low. Thing is the stuff she eats, cottage cheese, low fat yogurt look quite gross. Considering she never eats anything high in fat.

Mayank · 06-24-2008, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasha Vassily

Well at least the Australians have shown that they are united with US not only in political, cultural and military ideologies, but in health and food habits too.

Well its, symptomatic. Americans for example, never notice fat people or stupid people in US, unless they visit Europe. You can't really compare when you have seen only one sample.