Childhood obesity soars in Australia
May 7, 2007
A LANDMARK obesity study has found that 13 per cent of young Australians are extremely overweight and that adolescence is the crucial time for gaining weight.
Obesity experts are calling for policies to focus on teenagers' lifestyles to combat the epidemic.
The study tracked the height and weight of about 5000 young people over 20 years to work out the connection between weight gain and age.
About 9 per cent of children tested in 1985 were overweight and 1.5 per cent were obese, but the obesity figure ballooned to about 13 per cent when they were checked in their 20s and 30s.
The number of overweight people had also skyrocketed, to 40 per cent of male participants and 20 per cent of the women.
The study's lead researcher, Alison Venn, from the Menzies Research Institute in Hobart, said the findings showed clearly that most overweight and obese Australians did not have a weight problem in childhood.
"That means most people are gaining their weight, and it seems quite a lot overall, in adolescence when they're going through major life transitions," Professor Venn said.
"Something clearly happens in this period, particularly in late adolescence, that spurs on weight gain, so it makes sense that this is an important target time for preventing obesity."
Hormonal changes as well as lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise have been suggested as reasons for teenage weight gain.
The study, published in the
Medical Journal of Australia, also found that people who were very overweight as children were extremely likely to carry the problem into adulthood.
"For these children the policy focus on childhood obesity is vital," Professor Venn said.
"But we need to maintain this focus without missing the importance of adolescence as a time when many more seem to put on their weight."
Professor Paul Zimmet, an obesity expert and foundation director of the International Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, said the huge weight changes registered between the 1985 and 2005 surveys could also reflect more widespread use of computers and greater consumption of fast food.
AAP Australia Childhood Obesity
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