Obesity Issues In Australia

Worldwide obesity ratio is dramatically increased over few years. Many of the developed countries such as America, Europe, Australia people were suffering with obesity epidemic. Especially 60% of Australians are suffers from overweight and obesity. The reasons for obesity are economic influences poor diet, physical inactivity. The main cause of obesity is to consume more food than required. Obesity reduced the quality of life, lower the life expectancy and also effects on labor productivity. Some people assume that higher living standard reduces the obesity ratio by providing better health care and accessing healthy food. However, the effect of modernization many people had higher living standards. People who had high living

There is what has been referred to as "obesity epidemic" in Australia today. This trend affects everyone it the society; whether it be directly or indirectly. One particular concern within the "at risk" segment is children. The young in our society do not have the capacity, either mentally or the physical resources, to make their own informed decisions about their dietary consumption. Children are generally dependent upon their parents or institutions to provide them with the foods that they consume. Therefore, this group above all others deserves some level of protection against a lifestyle that can potentially have negative consequences for their health that can stay with them for a lifetime.

Childhood obesity is becoming more prevalent in the western world as statistics show that in Australia, one quarter of children are either overweight or obese. (Australian Bureau of statistics)

“During the past two decades, the prevalence of obesity in children has risen greatly worldwide. Obesity in childhood causes a wide range of serious complications, and increases the risk of premature illness and death later in life, raising public-health concerns.” (Ebbeling, Pawlak & Ludwig, 2002 p.471) Currently in the Australian community and schools there is an obesity epidemic in young people with many children doing less and less physical activity then advised. “In 2007-08 the National health survey, run by the Australian Government indicated that 24.9% of children aged 5-17 years old were either overweight or obese” (Healthy Active, 2009). These figures show that children are not being properly educated about healthy

Obesity can be defined as being 20% or more over the ideal body weight for your age and height. It is a chronic disease that can lead to a number of different illnesses and other diseases . These potentially deadly illnesses include diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, coronary vascular disease, heart attack, stroke, sleep apnoea and even cancer. Obesity is becoming more common in Australia as we speak with 10% more adults being overweight or obese in Australia than in 1995. According to recent statistics 63% of adults and 1 in 4 Australian children are overweight or obese.

Obesity is the 21st centuries plaque. It is a disease spreading at a rapid rate, taking over our society; affecting us from the grass roots up. Obesity, defined as excess fat/weight causing health issues is a multifactorial issue that needs to be addresses. There are too many consequences presented by the disease, both physical and mental to allow it the continual power to destroy the lives of many, too many Australians. The alarming rate at which this disease is spreading must become a topic of conversation for our whole society. Change needs to be seen at every level.

The obesity epidemic remains to have significance pressure on our lives. The HBO Film “Weight of the Nation” aim to open’s viewer’s eyes to a major increasing problematic that impact the existence of the human population in According to Suzanne Bennett the creator of the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic American. Current Statistic shows that the rate of obesity in the 1960s and 1970s only 13 percent of U.S. adults and 5 to 7 percent of U.S. children were obese. Today, 17 percent of our children, 32 percent of adult males, and 36 percent of adult females are obese. Some factor I believe contribute to obesity before seeing the Weight of the Nation are an unhealthy diet, consuming of food that is high in fat and people who have trouble coping with personal life that might lead to depression etc.

Obesity is a public health issue that has devastatingly developed into a global epidemic. According to the World Health Organization, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is dramatically increasing worldwide at an appalling and intimidating rate with more than 1.9 billion adults aged18 years and older being overweight in 2014. Out of these 1.9 billion adults being overweight, 600 million were classified obese. While the issue regarding overweight and obesity are prevalent in all countries, the National Health and Medical Research Council stated that Australia’s obesity levels have been developing faster than any countries in the world over the past thirty years. Although obesity may have been primarily considered as a personal concern three decades ago; it is overwhelmingly a societal concern today in Australia. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare have measured that in 2011 and 2012, around 63% of Australian adults had the characteristics of being overweight and corpulence. That is over a quarter of the adult population in Australia being obese.

Increasing rates of childhood obesity is a current and significant health issue in Australia. In Australia alone the obesity in children have doubled in recent years with a quarter of children considered overweight or obese. Levels of childhood obesity have been rising each year and for numerous reasons some which include the fact that children have been eating food which are high in sugars and fats and spending less time on physical activity. Studies have shown that when children become overweight they are more likely to become and stay obese while moving into adulthood, children also have an increased risk of developing both short and long term associated health conditions. Some associated health conditions include cardiovascular diseases,

Since Australia is one of the Countries with highest life expectancy of 83 years, it is obvious that Australia has a very good health quality compare with most of Nations. However, comparing with a country like Zimbabwe with life expectancy of 61 year, Australia has more risk of obesity. According to World Health Organisation

Obesity is the problem when the individual gains excess of body fat that it may cause a negative impact on his health in terms of suffering from type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or even cancer (Brownson et al., 2009). With the increase in fat in the body, the risk of these diseases increases in the individual. The problem of obesity has significantly increased with time amongst the people of Australia. 28% adults were obese as per the statistics of the year 2014-15 in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). The children are also suffering from the problem in the country. It has been noted that for the year 2014-15, one out of four children aged between 2 to 17 years were found obese or overweight

As obesity rates in Australia continue to increase and now in 2017 more than one in five school-aged children in New South Wales are being put into this category, people tend to point fingers at the fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC. However, they are not to blame as it is simply the parents who are to blame for their obese children. Child obesity is a medical condition that affects children and teenagers. It is caused generally by children not getting enough exercise and continuously eating unhealthy foods. Parents are the blame if their children are obese due to the foods and quantities they allow their children to eat, not being suitable role models with exercise and outside activities, the use of technology time allowed and over-protective

In 2008, obesity alone cost Australia 58.2 billion dollars (Obesity Australia, 2014). The majority of the cost of obesity comes from the ever growing list of health-related problems including diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, just to name a few. There are also numerous indirect costs of obesity, which include but are not limited to; the value of lost work and the inflated insurance prices (Withrow D & Alter D, 2011). The long list of physical problems that arise from obesity include; insulin resistance, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancers, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, osteoarthritis, cognitive impairment and depression (Core.monash.org, 2010). Recently, Cancer Council Australia CEO, Professor Ian Olver stated: “Unchecked, obesity will ultimately surpass tobacco as the major cancer killer in Australia” (Cancercouncil.org.au). The Cancer Council estimated that obese Australians are 23% more likely to fie from cancer, that those within the healthy weight range (Cancercouncil.org.au, 2011). Not only are there medical issues involved with obesity but a raft of adverse social and emotional effects.

Obesity levels in the Untied Kingdom have reached an all time high with one in every four adults suffering from obesity. Childhood obesity has also drastically increased with 25 percent of boys and 33 percent of girls aged between two and 19 years being overweight or obese. There is little sign of this upward trend in obesity stopping, and it will have a significant impact on the state of the country. It will negatively affect the UK 's economy and more importantly negatively affect the health of the UK 's 63 million people.

Do you know what’s the number one cause of death in America? Well the number one cause of death is heart related diseases. Many of these heart related diseases are caused by obesity. Obesity is “the condition of being grossly fat or overweight.” It is not just being thick boned, or even hereditary. Obesity has become a growing epidemic around the world! A very colossal problem here in the untied states of America; What is sad is that it is a disease one has caused due to their own choice of life style.