澳大利亞成人肥胖率世界第一

Australia is on track to become the fattest nation, although experts questioned whether it had overtaken the United States and small Pacific countries for the unenviable title.

Around 4 million Australian adults, or 26 percent of the population, were obese, eclipsing the 25 percent rate in the United States, a study by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute released in Melbourne said.

"If we ran a fat Olympics we'd be gold medal winners as the fattest people on earth at the moment," Institute preventative cardiology head Professor Simon Stewart said.

The report, Australia's Future Fat Bomb, to be presented to a government inquiry into the nation's obesity problem on Friday, said 70 percent of men and 60 percent of women aged 45 to 65 were technically overweight or obese.

In total, 9 million people were too heavy -- almost half the 21 million population -- and 123,000 were at risk of early death over the next 20 years, the study said.

While the report said Australia had overtaken the United States as the fattest nation on the planet, recent US studies show around 34 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.

And small Pacific nations top World Health Organization lists, with 94.5 percent of people in tiny Nauru classed as overweight, leading to chronic diabetes problems on the island.

The Federated States of Micronesia (91.1 percent), the Cook Islands (90.9 percent), Tonga (90.8 percent) and Niue (81.7 percent) rounded out the WHO top five, while the United States came in at number nine, with 74.1 percent overweight or obese.

Australia came in at only 21, behind countries such as New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, Greece and Kuwait, according to WHO.

In all, there are currently 1.6 billion overweight adults in the world, a number that is expected to grow by 40 percent over the next decade, according to the World Health Organization.

Nutrition expert Rosemary Stanton said while Australia may not lead the world, it did need to take urgent action to address growing obesity and re-think failed health messages.

"We've got to somehow or other get a message across. We've got to start taking this very seriously, rather than just talking about it," Stanton said, pointing the finger at "huge resistance" in the processed and fast food industries.

儘管專家們質疑澳大利亞是不是已經超過美國和那些太平洋小國贏得“世界最胖”這個並不令人羨慕的頭銜，不過它的確是在朝這個方向前進。

貝克心臟病與糖尿病研究所在墨爾本發佈的一項調查顯示，大約有400萬澳大利亞成年人屬於肥胖人羣，佔其總人口的26%，比成人肥胖率是25%的美國略高一籌。

該研究所預防心臟病學專家西蒙•斯圖爾特說，“如果有胖人奧運會，我們倒是能拿金牌。”

這份名爲“澳大利亞未來肥胖炸彈”的報告於週五在國家肥胖問題政府諮詢會上發表，該報告顯示，在45歲至64歲這個年齡段，大約有70％的男性和60％的女性從技術上講體重超標或者肥胖。

該研究顯示，該國總共有900萬人體重超標，幾乎佔2100萬總人口的一半；在今後的20年中，還會有12.3萬人有早亡的危險。

在這份報告表示澳大利亞已經超過美國成爲全球胖人最多的國家時，美國卻有最新研究顯示大約有34%的美國人體重超標或肥胖。

而太平洋小國也都在世界衛生組織的肥胖名單上名列前茅，小島國瑙魯就有94.5%的人屬於超重人羣，使得慢性糖尿病成爲該島的一大健康問題。

瑙魯與密克羅尼西亞聯邦（91.1%），庫克羣島（90.9%），湯加（90.8%），以及紐埃島（81.7%）成爲世界衛生組織列出的五大肥胖國，而美國以74.1%的肥胖率名列第九位。

在世界衛生組織的上述排名中，澳大利亞在新西蘭、墨西哥、阿根廷、希臘以及科威特等國之後，僅排第21位。

世界衛生組織表示，全世界現在有16億成年人體重超標，今後十年中這個數字大概還會增長40%。

營養專家羅斯瑪麗•斯湯頓說，雖然澳大利亞可能還不是世界上胖人最多的國家，但我們應該對不斷增長的肥胖問題儘快採取行動，對以往失敗的健康信息進行反思。

斯湯頓指着“強烈抵制”加工食品和快餐食品的牌子說：“我們需要通過某種方式來傳達這樣的信息。我們要嚴肅地對待這個問題，不能只是說說而已。”