Overweight and obesity  in Australia

Hawley, John A; Dunstan, David W

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01835.x

Topics

To the Editor: Australians are fatter than they have ever been before. The prevalence of overweight and obesity (body mass index ≥ 25.0 kg/m2, or waist circumference > 80 cm for women or > 94 cm for men) in Australian adults is approaching 60% for both sexes and has more than doubled in the past 25 years.1

1 School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC.
2 International Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: john.hawley@rmit.edu.au

1. Cameron AJ, Welborn TA, Zimmet PZ, et al. Overweight and obesity in Australia: the 1999–2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab). Med J Aust 2003; 178: 427-432. <MJA full text>
2. Obesity surgery would improve the bottom line. The Age (Melbourne) 2008; 6 Jan. http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/obesity-surgery-would-improve-the-bottom-line/2008/01/05/1198950123936.html (accessed Jan 2008).
3. Booth FW, Gordon SE, Carlson CJ, Hamilton MT. Waging war on modern chronic diseases: primary prevention through exercise biology. J Appl Physiol 2000; 88: 774-787.
4. Bohr N. Letter to President Franklin D Roosevelt (3 Jul 1944). http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmanhattan.htm (accessed Jan 2008).

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.