Australia is suffering due to changes in lifestyles

The image that most people in the United Kingdom have of Australians is that they are rugged, tanned, outside types who are fit and healthy, an image which was greatly reinforced by the movie character Crocodile Dundee and other stereotypes of the Australian man.

This image may soon be dispelled if Australian people do not start to take more care of their health. A new study led by Professor Simon Stuart shows that the people of Australia are becoming increasingly overweight and are fast catching up with America. It is possible that sometime in the near future Australian people will take the top spot and be known as the world’s most obese nation.

The researchers claim that as many as 60 percent of the adult population of Australia is now clinically overweight (with the BMI of over 25) and that a over ¼ of all adults have a BMI of 30+ making them clinically obese. This means that around 4 million Australian people have a serious obesity problem.

Like all developed nations, Australia is suffering due to changes in lifestyles which mean that people eat diets very high in fat and in sugar and are living increasingly less active lives. Over 14,000 Australian adults were looked at and it is clear that around 30 percent of older men are obese and around 40 percent of all women are unhealthily overweight. The new research has come as a shock to health authorities in Australia who previously thought that the figure for overweight adults in the country was 1 million people less.

At Ukmedix News we have seen obesity levels rising all around the world but at the same time some nations have managed to slow the problem by investing money in health campaigns to highlight the dangers of obesity and also by educating their citizens in healthy eating and exercise. The Australian government needs to act fast and decisively if they want to get the nation into shape and to prevent the image of the healthy Australian disappearing forever.