By: Shane Gotama
Obesity is one of the largest health issues that are often discussed in Australia. Australia has claimed the third spot for the country with the highest obesity rates in the world. This is proven by the drastic increase of obesity rates for both adult and children in the past few years. Health researchers found that the average BMI of Australian men rose from 24.9 in 1980 to 27.6 in 2008, while for women the numbers rose from 23.6 to 26.9. Further research reported by the Herald Sun stated that approximately 61 percent of Australian adults and 25 percent of children and teenagers are obese. Obesity is caused mainly by a person’s lifestyle. Diet is one of the most influential factors in obesity such as eating a lot of fatty or junk foods and drinking soft drinks. Another factor …show more content…
The most important reason is that obesity can lead to numerous severe diseases. Obese people have high risks of contracting diseases such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and even cancer. Researchers have also found that obesity can shorten a person’s life expectancy by approximately ten years which is even greater than the effects of smoking. Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) also reported that obesity can cause mental instability and tremendous emotions fluctuations which can have a bad impact on the society. These people tend to feel not calm and insecure. The increase in the number of people contracting these diseases implies that the government have to provide and spend more money on medical facilities. Moreover, increasing death rates due to these dangerous diseases, especially cancer will have bad effects on the country’s population and economy. Therefore, the government should not hesitate to take actions on these people as these diseases can affect the country