Australia vies with Pacific, US to be fattest

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.

尽管专家们质疑澳大利亚是不是已经超过美国和那些太平洋小国赢得“世界最胖”这个并不令人羡慕的头衔，不过它的确是在朝这个方向前进。

贝克心脏病与糖尿病研究所在墨尔本发布的一项调查显示，大约有400万澳大利亚成年人属于肥胖人群，占其总人口的26%，比成人肥胖率是25%的美国略高一筹。

该研究所预防心脏病学专家西蒙•斯图尔特说，“如果有胖人奥运会，我们倒是能拿金牌。”

这份名为“澳大利亚未来肥胖炸弹”的报告于周五在国家肥胖问题政府咨询会上发表，该报告显示，在45岁至64岁这个年龄段，大约有70％的男性和60％的女性从技术上讲体重超标或者肥胖。

该研究显示，该国总共有900万人体重超标，几乎占2100万总人口的一半；在今后的20年中，还会有12.3万人有早亡的危险。

在这份报告表示澳大利亚已经超过美国成为全球胖人最多的国家时，美国却有最新研究显示大约有34%的美国人体重超标或肥胖。

而太平洋小国也都在世界卫生组织的肥胖名单上名列前茅，小岛国瑙鲁就有94.5%的人属于超重人群，使得慢性糖尿病成为该岛的一大健康问题。

瑙鲁与密克罗尼西亚联邦（91.1%），库克群岛（90.9%），汤加（90.8%），以及纽埃岛（81.7%）成为世界卫生组织列出的五大肥胖国，而美国以74.1%的肥胖率名列第九位。

在世界卫生组织的上述排名中，澳大利亚在新西兰、墨西哥、阿根廷、希腊以及科威特等国之后，仅排第21位。

世界卫生组织表示，全世界现在有16亿成年人体重超标，今后十年中这个数字大概还会增长40%。

营养专家罗斯玛丽•斯汤顿说，虽然澳大利亚可能还不是世界上胖人最多的国家，但我们应该对不断增长的肥胖问题尽快采取行动，对以往失败的健康信息进行反思。

斯汤顿指着“强烈抵制”加工食品和快餐食品的牌子说：“我们需要通过某种方式来传达这样的信息。我们要严肃地对待这个问题，不能只是说说而已。”