Obesity in New Zealand has become an important national health concern in recent years, with high numbers of people afflicted in every age and ethnic group. [1]
Obesity in New Zealand has become an important national health concern in recent years, with high numbers of people afflicted in every age and ethnic group. [1]
As of June 2008, 26.5% of New Zealanders are obese, [1] a number only surpassed in the English-speaking world by the United States. [1] [2]
The New Zealand Ministry of Health Survey of 2016/17 found that 34% of adults (aged 15 and over) are overweight (BMI between 25.0 and 29.9), [3] with a further 1.2 million people (32%) being obese (BMI over 30.0), up from 29% in 2011/12. [4]
Out of a total estimated population of 4.3 million in 2008, [5] the Ministry's studies show that roughly 1.13 million New Zealand adults were overweight, [6] with an extra 826,000 obese. [6] The 2008 figures, which represent samples from 2006 and 2007, show that 25% of New Zealand adults are obese, a slight increase from 2002 and 2003 (24%) but a wide rise from 1997 (19%). [1]
Obesity is more prevalent in New Zealand females from age 5 until the age of 34, at which time the males overtake the females in terms of percentage. [1] After essentially coming in at a dead heat in the 55 to 64 bracket, female obesity becomes a higher risk for 65- to 74-year-olds than it does for males, only to switch odds again after 75. [1]
The 2017 study showed that adults in deprived areas are 1.5 times more likely to become obese than those in well-off areas. [3] [4]
As of 2017, 21% of children (aged 2–12) are overweight, [3] with a further 100,000 (12.3%) being obese. [4] The child obesity rate has not changed significantly since 2011/12 (when it was 10.7%), although it has increased since 2006/07 (8.4%). [4]
In 2004, over 30 percent of children in New Zealand were classified as overweight. [7] In the 2008 figures, 8.3% of children ages 5 to 14 in New Zealand were classified as obese. [1] While more numerous than the same demographic in Australia (between 5 and 6%), [8] the number of obese children actually declined from a record high of 9% set in 2002. [1] Starting in 2006, the government has worked to cut high-fat foods and high sugar drinks from school cafeterias, and also to curb advertising for junk food during daytime television hours, these moves are being credited with slowing the rate of obesity in New Zealand, especially among the young. [9]
The 2017 study showed that children in deprived areas are 2.5 times more likely to become obese than those in well-off areas. [3] [4]
In the 2008 report, adults of Māori and other Polynesian descent had a much higher rate of obesity than white New Zealanders. [1] The rate for the Pacific peoples were nearly triple the white average, while Māori reported nearly double the white rate. As of 2017, 50% of Māori adults, 18% of Māori children, 69% of Polynesian adults, and 29% of Polynesian children are obese. [3] In 2008, 65% of adult Pacific New Zealanders and 43% of adult Māori were obese, compared to 23% of white adults, [1] and 12% of Asian New Zealanders were obese. Out of all the ethnic groups surveyed, only the Asians reported a large increase in obesity from the 2002 statistics. [1]
Body mass index (BMI) is a value derived from the mass (weight) and height of a person. The BMI is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height, and is expressed in units of kg/m2, resulting from mass in kilograms and height in metres.
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to an extent that it may have a negative effect on health. People are generally considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person's weight by the square of the person's height—despite known allometric inaccuracies—is over 30 kg/m2; the range 25–30 kg/m2 is defined as overweight. Some East Asian countries use lower values.
Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence of obesity in children and its many adverse health effects it is being recognized as a serious public health concern. The term overweight rather than obese is often used when discussing childhood obesity, especially in open discussion, as it is less stigmatizing. The prevalence of childhood obesity is known to differ by sex and gender.
The Trim and Fit (TAF) programme was a weight loss programme that targeted child obesity in Singapore schools between 1992 and 2007. Introduced by the Ministry of Education, schoolchildren under the programme were educated on nutrition, calorie control, and participated in intense physical exercise and activities.
The major causes of deaths in Finland are cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumors, dementia and alzheimers disease, respiratory diseases, alcohol related diseases and accidental poisoning by alcohol. In 2010 the leading causes of death among men aged 15 to 64 were alcohol related deaths, ischaemic heart disease, accident, suicides, lung cancer and cerbrovascular diseases. Among women the leading causes were breast cancer, alcohol related deaths, accidents, suicides, ischaemic heart disease and lung cancer.
Obesity in the United States is a major health issue resulting in numerous diseases, specifically increased risk of certain types of cancer, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, as well as significant increases in early mortality and economic costs.
Being overweight or fat is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary.
Obesity has been observed throughout human history. Many early depictions of the human form in art and sculpture appear obese. However, it was not until the 20th century that obesity became common — so much so that, in 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic and estimated that the worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2, and in June 2013 the American Medical Association classified it as a disease.
Obesity in Canada is a growing health concern, which is "expected to surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality" and represents a burden of Can$3.96 (US$3.04/€2.75) billion on the Canadian economy each year."
Obesity in the United Kingdom is a significant contemporary health concern, with authorities stating that it is one of the leading preventable causes of death. In February 2016, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt described rising rates of childhood obesity as a "national emergency". The National Childhood Measurement Programme, which measures obesity prevalence among school-age pupils in reception class and year 6, found obesity levels rocketed in both year groups by more than 4 percentage points between 2019-20 and 2020-21, the highest rise since the programme began. Among reception-aged children, those aged four and five, the rates of obesity rose from 9.9% in 2019-20 to 14.4% in 2020-21. By the time they are aged 10 or 11, more than a quarter are obese. In just 12 months, the rate is up from 21% in 2019-20 to 25.5% in 2020-21.
According to 2007 statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), Australia has the third-highest prevalence of overweight adults in the English-speaking world. Obesity in Australia is an "epidemic" with "increasing frequency." The Medical Journal of Australia found that obesity in Australia more than doubled in the two decades preceding 2003, and the unprecedented rise in obesity has been compared to the same health crisis in America. The rise in obesity has been attributed to poor eating habits in the country closely related to the availability of fast food since the 1970s, sedentary lifestyles and a decrease in the labour workforce.
Pacific island nations and associated states make up the top seven on a 2007 list of heaviest countries, and eight of the top ten. In all these cases, more than 70% of citizens age 15 and over are obese. A mitigating argument is that the BMI measures used to appraise obesity in Caucasian bodies may need to be adjusted for appraising obesity in Polynesian bodies, which typically have larger bone and muscle mass than Caucasian bodies; however, this would not account for the drastically higher rates of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes among these same islanders.
Obesity classification is a ranking of obesity, the medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it has an adverse effect on health. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies obesity by body mass index (BMI). BMI is further evaluated in terms of fat distribution via the waist–hip ratio and total cardiovascular risk factors. In children, a healthy weight varies with age and sex, and obesity determination is in relation to a historical normal group.
Obesity in France is a growing health issue. Obesity in children is growing at a faster rate than obesity in adults.
Obesity in the Middle East and North Africa is a notable health issue. Out of the fifteen fattest nations in the world as of 2014, 5 were located in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Obesity stigma is broadly defined as bias or discriminatory behaviors targeted at individuals because of their weight. Such social stigmas can span one's entire life, as long as excess weight is present, starting from a young age and lasting into adulthood. Several studies from across the world indicate overweight and obese individuals experience higher levels of stigma relative to their thinner counterparts. In addition, they marry less often, experience fewer educational and career opportunities, and on average earn a lesser income than normal weight individuals. Although public support regarding disability services, civil rights, and anti-workplace discrimination laws for obese individuals have gained support across the years, overweight and obese individuals still experience discrimination, which may have detrimental implications in relation to both physiological and psychological health. These issues are compounded by the significant negative physiological effects that are already associated with obesity.
Obesity is defined as the excessive accumulation of fat and is predominantly caused when there is an energy imbalance between calorie consumption and calorie expenditure. Childhood obesity is becoming an increasing concern worldwide, and Australia alone recognizes that 1 in 4 children are either overweight or obese.
Obesity is defined as an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more over an individual's ideal body weight. This is often described as a body mass index (BMI) over 30. However, BMI does not account for whether the excess weight is fat or muscle, and is not a measure of body composition. For most people, however, BMI is an indication used worldwide to estimate nutritional status. Obesity is usually the result of consuming more calories than the body needs and not expending that energy by doing exercise. There are genetic causes and hormonal disorders that causes people to gain significant amounts of weight but this is rare. People in the obese category are much more likely to suffer from fertility problems than people of normal healthy weight.
Obesity in Thailand has been flagged as a major source of health concern, with 32% of the population identifying as overweight and 9% obese. With reference to 2016 data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Thailand has one of the highest incidence of overweight citizens in the South East Asian region, second to only Malaysia. The Thai National Health Examination Surveys (NHES) found that obesity in Thailand more than doubled during the period 1991-2014. This spike in obesity levels has been largely attributed to increased access to junk food, and unhealthy switches from active to sedentary lifestyles. These factors are closely linked to economic growth in the country.
According to the World Health Organization (2015), the "worldwide population of overweight and obese adults increased between 1980 and 2013 from 30 percent to 38 percent in women, and 29 percent to 37 percent in men". The prevalence of obesity continues to rise in all age groups in this developing country.