Information about obesity

In this week, i will show you a clearly information about obesity. Obesity and overweight are measured using the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is calculated weight divided by height in meters squared. A person is regarded as obese if his/her BMI is over 30. While we know that obesity is a serious health issue, not a lot of people are aware of how serious this issue is in the Australian society. Between 1995 and 2015, there is a 10% increase in the number of obese adults, meaning that there are 2 obese adults amongst 3 adults in Australia. The more worrying fact is that 1 in 4 children are overweight and obese, indicating that there will likely be a further increase in adult who are obese in the near future, especially those living in rural areas (given that 15% more people living in outer regional and remote areas are overweight than people living in major cities). While you may think that smoking is the highest contributor to burden of diseases, overweight and obesity is ahead of smoking. Overweight, especially obesity, is a major risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even some cancers. Being overweight severely hampers the ability to control and manage pre-existing chronic disorders. Just in case you are still not feeling how obesity can severely impact your health, have a look at BBC’s documentary: Obesity, the post mortem.

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