Why overnutrition is a global problem - Australia

 11-Apr-16, The Blue Room Bupa

Bupa’s National Medical Director Dr Rob Grenfell says more action needs to be taken to make healthy food the easiest option.

Image: The Blue Room Bupa

Some worrying figures are making headlines. There’s been a steep rise in global obesity rates over the past four decades.

The number of obese people has risen from 105 million in 1975, to 641 million. The figures from the biggest ever study of worldwide trends in body mass index, published in The Lancet, show globally 1 in 5 adults will be obese by 2025 and in Australia it will be 1 in 3.

Some of the most common cancers in the world are related to obesity. Cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke are strongly related to body size, as is diabetes.

According a group of experts from the Obesity Policy Coalition, University of Melbourne and the Australian Health Policy Collaboration at Victoria University, Australia needs to urgently increase spending on the prevention of chronic diseases.

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