Young Aussies risk dying younger than their parents

EXPERTS warn young Aussies are in the grip of an obesity epidemic and could die younger than their parents as almost 40 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 are overweight or obese.

Claire Ellis is 22 and halfway through her weight loss journey. Picture: Alex Coppel

YOUNG Aussies could die younger than their parents as almost 40 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 are overweight or obese.

Experts warn young Australian adults are in the grip of an obesity epidemic.

The number of obese young women has more than doubled in just two decades while the obesity rate of young men has increased by 70 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures show.

Claire has lost 8.1 kilos so far. Picture: Alex Coppel

“There is the potential that these children will not live as long as their parents,” Deakin University Professor of Epidemiology and Equity in Public Health Anna Peeters said.

While the rate of overweight young Australians appeared have to remain stable, Prof Peeters said in actual fact “we’re losing them to the obese category”.

“What it actually means is everyone is gaining weight,” she said.

“Because it’s become normalised, I don’t think people realise how much heavier we are than two or three decades ago.”

Data compiled by the ABS shows young women are on average 4.2kg heavier than 20 years ago while young men are 4kg heavier.

The average waist line has also blown out in the past 20 years.

Men’s waistlines jumped 4.1cm to 88cm, while women’s increased 6cm to 79.4cm.

Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute’s head of Clinical Obesity Research Professor John Dixon said: “We have a catastrophic situation.”

“We have about one million severely obese people — this is an incredible burden of disease.”

Prof Dixon said doctors were seeing “clear evidence” that the organs of teenagers and young adults were being damaged — “their hearts, their kidneys, their blood vessels”.

“There’s no doubt they’re having major end organ damage,” he said..

Claire Ellis, 22, was until recently among the statistic of obese young Australian women.

On discovering she fell into the obese category, the Richmond woman decided her weight was “ getting out of hand”.

In just six months, she has lost almost 10kg with Jenny Craig and puts her success down to reducing portion sizes.

“It was so good to actually see what a portion size should be,” she said.

Ms Ellis said after losing the weight, she felt much better.

“I was tired, I didn’t really want to socialise because I felt judged, I felt really withdrawn,” she said.

Prof Dixon said research had been done on the impact of obesity on quality of life for young Australians.

“This was the age group with the greatest impact of psychological issues,” he said.

He said there would be disastrous effects in the future from an unhealthy younger generation.

“It’s going to be catastrophic for our health system but also our social system. — every aspect of productivity,” he said.

“Yet we don’t have a single drug on the PBS listing as a weight management drug.”

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