Study ‘reveals obesity surge’

OBESITY rates in Australia have surged 25 per cent since 2000, according to Geelong research.
Deakin University has used figures from a Geelong osteoporosis study of more than 2500 participants to find obesity increasing whether using body mass index (BMI) or waistline measurements.
Deakin said Associate Prof-essor Julie Pasco and her team examined figures from 1467 men and 1076 women aged 20 to 96 in the osteoporosis study.
“The study is significant because the number of people participating in it and the results from it can be seen to be representative of the nation as a whole,” Deakin said.
The study found that 45.1 per cent of men and 30.2 per cent of women were overweight when the study figures were judged against BMI measures of weight corrected for height. A further 2.2 per cent of men and 28.6 per cent of women were obese.
Deakin said the study used the waistline measurement to find that 27.5 per cent of men and 23.3 per cent of women were overweight. The waistline method also had 29.3 per cent of men and 44.1 per cent of women as obese.
Prof Pasco said the findings were of “grave concern”.
“It is alarming that regardless of the measuring method used 60 per cent of the population exceeds recommended thresholds for health body composition,” she said.
“It is alarming that obesity rates have increased by one quarter since the turn of the century.
“This is of grave concern because obesity is associated with increased risk of developing high blood pressure, type two diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and some cancers.”
Prof Pasco said the study also demonstrated that BMI overestimated body fat in men compared to women.
“This is because excess weight can be largely due to muscular body builds and heavier bones in men.
“We also found a greater prevalence of obesity in women than men.”
Prof Pasco said BMI could also be unreliable for indicating actual body fat in children.
She urged parents and health professionals to factor in gender, age and ethnicity when testing for obesity.